Blast From The Past: On This Day 2007 – CCFC’s Maltese Messi Miffs Man.Utd In Cup
Iain Dowie
On this memorable night (26th September) in 2007 Sky Blues ‘gaffer’ Ian Dowie’s took his team to so-called ‘Theatre of Dreams’ in Manchester to take on the reigning Premier League Champons, Manchester United, in the Carling Cup 3rd Round. In the Championship, City had started 2007-08 with a bang winning three out of their first four league games and had only received their second defeat in seven games at Ipswich Town the previous Saturday. In this Cup we had disposed of Notts. County 3-0 at the Ricoh in Round One and Carlisle 2-0 at Brunton Park to set up this juicy tie.
Michael in the Sky Blue
Over 11,400 members of the Sky Blue Army travelled up to Manchester for the game and prepared in anticipation of a great game with a big pre-match party in Salford Quays neighbouring Old Trafford. The magnificent ground was then packed to the rafters with 74,055 fans (nearly 70,000 more than the Carlisle gate)! United’s famous ‘gaffer’ Sir Alex had obviously not taken the Sky Blues challenge too seriously (fielding a team of many reserve players and the likes of Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs missing. Comforted by a run of seven straight wins in the Premier League prior to the game Sir Alex asked the media to savour the performance of the club’s future talent’. Sky Blue fans were delighted when their team handed out a big 2-0 surprise to the Red Devils and Sir Alex was reportedly ‘flabbergasted’.
Michael Doyle in the Sky Blue
Both the Sky Blues goals came from our diminutive Maltese forward Michael Mifsud. Ian Dowie’s 4-5-1 formation worked splendidly against a novice home defence as the Sky Blues ‘Maltese Messi’ made his name famous in the the UK media with two stunning finishes, one in each half (27 & 71 minutes). Michael’s first came from chasing a cross into the box from Michael Doyle.
Jay in Sky Blue action
His second came after he beat a United defender on the left, took a return from Jay Tabb and thumped the ball past Tomasz Kuszczak. Sir Alex tried to bolster his team’s fortunes by introducing Michael Carrick off the bench but the Mancunians continued to look laboured as the Sky Blues got a deserved win and fans gave their fans a stunning away day and a night to remember!
Thanks to CCFPA’s Dean Nelson you can watch 15 minutes of the game from MUTV by clicking on the picture below:-
The Sky Blues fielded the following team (CCFPA members underlined):-
Andy Marshall, Isaac Osbourne (sub. David MacNamee -88), Michael Doyle, Elliott Ward, Ben Turner, Robbie Simpson, Stephen Hughes, Leon Best (‘Dele Adebola -90), Michel Mifsud and Jay Tabb ,
unused subs:- Arjan De Zeeuw, Kevin Thornton and Dimi Konstantopoulos (gk)
The Red Devils put out the following XI:-
Tomasz Kuszczak, Phil Bardsley (sub. Wes Brown -46), Danny Simpson, John O’Shea, Jonny Evans (sub. Michael Carrick -56), Gerard Pique, Lee Martin (sub. Fraizer Campbell -46), ‘Anderson’, Chris Eagles, Dong Fangzhuo and ‘Nani’
unused subs:- A.Eckersley
Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancs).
After the euphoria of this win the following month things were less positive and West Ham put us out of the 4th Round of the Cup by 2-1 at the Ricoh after taking a 68th minute lead from Jay Tabb only to concede an own goal from Marcus Hall two minutes later and a killer goal from future Sky Blue Joe Cole deep into injury time! The season, of course, developed in a much less promising way with takeover plans stuttering and the resignation of City MD Paul Fletcher in October (to be replaced by Ray Ranson before Xmas as the threat of Administration was lifted.
Results and player morale suffered and Chris Coleman was placed in the CCFC hot seat after Iain Dowie‘s shock sacking in February.
Coventry City 2007-08
In the event, the Sky Blues escaped relegation in 21st position in the Championship, a point an a place above the drop. Leicester City were the somewhat unlucky fall guys (going down with Scunthorpe and Colchester), even after the Sky Blues had succumbed to a woeful last day of the season drubbing losing 4-1 at Charlton.
