On this day (15th August) in 1992 the Sky Blues, after being in the top flight (First Division) since 1967, played their first game in the completely restyled Premier League. We were fortunate to get a home game at Highfield Road allocated by the League’s computers to kick off the new era.
North eastern side Middlesbrough were the visitors and, as befitting the occasion, it was former Sky Blue striker, now returned as ‘gaffer’ Bobby Gould (and now a CCFPA member to boot), who led his Sky Blues team to a win. Curiously, the size of the Highfield Road crowd there to witness this auspicious occasion was 12,345 and they saw the Sky Blues snatch the points by the narrow victory margin of the odd goal in three.
‘The Gouldfather’ had signed ‘The Flying Postman’ John Williams (now also a CCFPA member) from Swansea for £250k in the close season and he was certainly quick off the mark streaking away to bag City’s first goal after only nine minutes (and therefore, the second PL goal ever scored)! The goal also happened to be the club’s fastest debut goal for thirty years!
Jinking Sky Blues winger David Smith (also now a CCFPA member) made things even more comfortable for the home team in the second half getting City’s second five minutes after the break. Lennie Lawrence‘s ‘Boro team fought back and grabbed a lifeline three minutes after the hour when Paul Wilkinson netted with a smart finish.
It was good to see both City’s goalscorers on this day back in Coventry (along with many other former players) a couple of year’s ago to attend the funeral of City legend George Curtis at Coventry Cathedral. There are many more photos of the game from the Coventry Telegraph reproduced on the CCFPA Facebook page.
However, on this day, the Sky Blues were able to hang on for a vital and historic win. The ‘Boro included in their forward line former Sky Blue John Hendrie (1981-84) who has since become a Sky Blue member.
Thanks to former CCFPA committee member Dean Nelson you can watch highlights of this early Premier League victory by clicking on the image below.
Steve Ogrizovic, Terry Fleming, Kenny Sansom, Stewart Robson, Andy Pearce, Peter Atherton, Micky Gynn, Lee Hurst (Phil Babb -75), Robert Rosario, John Williams and David Smith (Sean Flynn -70).
The Boro’ put out the following team:-
Stephen Pears, Chris Morris, Jimmy Phillips, Alan Kernaghan (c), Derek Whyte, Andy Peake, Tommy Wright, Robbie Mustoe (Bernie Slaven -54), Paul Wilkinson, John Hendrie and Willie Falconer Referee:- Howard King (Wales)
he Sky Blues went on to complete the double over Middlesbrough the following February beating them 2-0 at Ayresome Park with second half goals from Peter Ndlovu (CCFPA’s 300th member) and Micky Quinn! Sadly for the fans of the north eastern club they sank into the relegation places going down in penultimate (21st) spot along with Crystal Palace and bottom club Nottingham Forest. The Sky Blues ended up three points and five positions above the drop in fifteenth in the inaugural Premier League season. Manchester United took the title fully ten points ahead of Aston Villa!
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