Darren Purse served the first of his three game suspension for his red card against Leeds in the Barnet match, but all of the rest of team that had started the season so well were back for the Birmingham match which attracted a capacity crowd to Ninian Park to give the club their first 20,000 plus league attendance in twenty six years.
The match also marked Cameron Jerome's return to Ninian Park and the £3 million pound man had certainly had an eventful start at his new club as he received a straight red card five minutes after coming on as a substitute against Colchester on the opening day of the season! Jerome had made his first start for his new club against
With the teams occupying the top two places in the league, there was a great atmosphere in the ground for the lunchtime kick off and, whereas previous City teams sometimes seemed overwhelmed by the big occasion, this one appeared to be inspired by it as they tore into the visitors from the first whistle. Only eleven minutes had been played when Paul Parry and Michael Chopra worked a short corner routine which worked Parry clear along the bye line from where he pulled the ball back for Joe Ledley to score from about ten yards out. There could have been further City goals during this hectic opening spell as Thompson headed just over and Scimeca was inches away from scoring at the far post, but they would never have been able to maintain such a hectic pace and, gradually
After the break though, the visitors enjoyed their best spell of the game and only a great tackle by Roger Johnson saved City as
The rest of the match was played out in what was almost a party atmosphere (Steve Bruce criticised some of his team for the way they failed to cope with "the Ninian Park experience") and it was a sign of City's attacking intent that Kerrea Gilbert was up field and almost scoring in the last minute as his shot forced Doyle into a fine save.
For the first time in thirty five years a
What was it that made us so good in those early months? My one word answer to that question would be "pace" - for short periods of a game we were able to play with a pace which left good sides unable to live with us as they were left gasping in our slipstream. For me, much of the transformation stemmed from our full backs as Gilbert and McNaughton (who was brilliant against
Much was made at the time of how well different pairings within the team were doing - the Gilbert/Parry partnership on the right and the McNaughton/Ledley combination on the left were helping to bring out the best in our central midfield partnership of Scimeca and McPhail who were looking perfect foils for each other with Scimeca doing a great job as the box to box player and McPhail being given the time and options to show the full range of his ability as the holding midfield passer. McPhail's understanding of Michael Chopra's play from their days together at Barnsley was also helping to bring out the best in our new striker - as yet he had not got the goals his performances deserved, but his clever running and good touch was making him a nightmare to mark and there were also encouraging signs that his partnership with target man Steve Thompson would work in a way that the Thompson/Jerome combination from the previous season never did.
People who, for whatever reason, were unable to watch us play in those opening months may look at our finishing position and think that I have been talking out of my backside in the last few paragraphs, but, we really were that good! I don't claim any great footballing insight in pointing out why I think we were doing so well because I reckon it was fairly obvious to anyone who saw us play - now if I really was some sort of tactical genius, I would be able to explain exactly why virtually all of those virtues I described disappeared from our game from November onwards, but I'll leave that to someone else!
A break for International football (Joe Ledley appeared as a sub for Wales in their unlucky 2-1 defeat against the Czech Republic in a European Championship qualifying match and the 2-0 friendly defeat by Brazil at White Hart Lane) meant that City held on to their top spot for at least a fortnight, but, when they returned to action with trips to Preston and Plymouth, there were definite signs that they may not be able to cope with the front runner's role.
City's recent record at Deepdale is really poor and they fared no better this time around as they slipped to a controversial 2-1 defeat. The home side had made a stuttering start to their campaign and had drawn their first two home matches but they were helped on their way by referee Eddie Ilderton who gave Glenn Loovens what looked like a very harsh red card after just ten minutes for an alleged professional foul on Dave Nugent. City reorganised by moving McNaughton to play alongside Johnson at centre back and switching Ledley to left back and gave as good as they got for the rest of the first half with their cause being helped when Ilderton gave Nugent a second yellow card after 35 minutes.
The game seemed to be there for the winning at half time, but substitute Patrick Agyemang put the home side ahead after 48 minutes only for City to respond impressively with Chopra scoring from a McNaughton pass three minutes later. However,
Darren Purse returned after his suspension for the midweek trip to Home Park, but with Loovens now serving a one match ban for his sending off, the captain slotted in alongside Johnson in a game which was described as freakish at the time, but, with hindsight, offered a sneak preview into the sort of lack of leadership issues that would dog the team towards the end of the season.
For three quarters of the game City took
City's control was so complete that it appeared to matter little when McNaughton turned a Buzsaky cross into his own net on sixty eight minutes, but things looked a lot different five minutes later when Barry Hayles just about forced the ball over the line following a goalmouth scramble which resembled an American Football play on the one yard line!
With the home crowd now getting right behind their team it needed cool heads and clear thinking if the City were to hold on to their lead, but with three minutes to go a breakdown in communications between two of the most experienced members of the side resulted in Purse heading past the advancing Alexander for another own goal as Plymouth completed an incredible comeback.
Whilst City could legitimately claim that all three Plymouth goals had an element of luck to them, it was also true that they had contributed to their downfall with some panicky defending and with just one point to show from their last two games their hold on top spot was looking a tenuous one - City needed to reassert themselves and with fifteen points taken from their next five matches I think it's fair to say that they did precisely that!
City's first choice central defensive pairing of Purse and Loovens were reunited for the first time in five matches for the visit of Luton four days after the
Just as against Birmingham, City started well and after nine minutes Scimeca exploited some woeful Luton marking to power a header from a Parry corner past keeper Beresford only for the ball to be blocked on the line by Lewis Emanuel - the crowd immediately screamed for handball and a linseman agreed. Referee Melin pointed to the spot, showed the Luton player a red card and Darren Purse (under pressure after missing his last penalty and his own goal at Plymouth) scored to put us one up - Luton manager Mike Newell was outraged by the decision, but television replays suggested it was a right one.
Just as City did at Preston, Luton now faced the prospect of playing 80 minutes with ten men and, to be fair to them, they gave it a real go - they kept on attacking with striker Rowan Vine causing us plenty of problems whilst their midfield, featuring ex City man Richard Langley, knocked the ball about nicely at times. However, it was City who carried the real cutting edge and chances came along at regular intervals - Steve McPhail missed what was probably the best chance he got all season to open his City account, but a beautiful side footed finish by Parry after a good run and pass by Chopra doubled the lead after half an hour and, for a while, it all looked like plain sailing for the team.
With no midweek fixture, City now had an eight day rest until they were next in action with a televised match against Southend at Roots Hall. Southend had made a decent start to life in the Championship after two successive promotions and had two wins and two draws to show for their first four home games, but they were brushed aside by a City team playing with tremendous confidence. Much of the team's success up to now had been built on pace, but they seemed to stroll to victory on this lovely Sunday afternoon as McPhail pulled the strings in midfield with a masterly performance. After surviving an early scare when Paynter hit the top of the crossbar with a header, City led on eleven minutes when McPhail's quickly taken free kick was bundled in by Purse. It was all pretty comfortable after that - Scimeca added a second in first half injury time when Chopra's lovely back heeled pass gave him an easy close range chance and Ledley completed the scoring with his third goal of the season when he turned Chopra's cross in at the far post (although the campaign was only nine games old, it was to be Ledley's last goal, something which is indicative of how the goals dried up from midfield after the first third of the season).
Although Southend brought on Michael Ricketts to try and salvage something from the game (he was sacked by them shortly afterwards for a lack of fitness!), City ended up comfortable 3-0 winners as the Sky pundits drooled over our display - sometimes during those opening three months you really had to pinch yourself to make sure you weren't dreaming!
In typical fashion, many of those who couldn't make the Luton match were at
That goal broke the back of Wolves' resistance and the second half was a one sided affair as City scored three more times without reply. The second goal was a sure fire sign that things were going really well for the team as Parry's cross was headed clear by Edwards straight onto the head of visiting captain Craddock and from there into the net past a bemused Murray - sides at the bottom of the league just don't score goals like that! A first half hamstring injury to Kevin McNaughton saw substitute Malvin Kamara replace him as Joe Ledley switched to full back and he scored his only goal for the club with a neat finish from the edge of the box after Kerrea Gilbert's good pass had played him in. The final goal arrived twelve minutes from time when Paul Parry scored at the Canton Stand end for the third successive match from Chopra's pass.
Up to now, apart from suspensions for red cards, the strength of City's paper thin squad had not been tested, but Kevin McNaughton' s injury changed that as he looked set to be out for around a month. The timing of the injury was particularly unfortunate for the full back who had made such a great start in City colours because he had just been recalled to the full Scottish squad by manager Walter Smith (McNaughton had to cry off from another Scotland squad later in the season).
Significantly, Dave Jones opted to look outside his squad for a loan player to replace McNaughton and at least he had a fortnight to find the right man to bring in because of another break for International matches (Joe Ledley and Paul Parry both made substitute appearances in
Although Palace hadn't started the season that well, they were certainly a side expected to challenge at the top end of the table, but, like so many before them, they found themselves deservedly beaten by the team that were striding clear at the top of the division!
It only took City ninety seconds to hit the front as Chopra volleyed home Thompson's lay off, but any illusions that his was going to be another Southend type stroll in the sun were shattered as Palace mounted a strong fight back during the rest of the first half which culminated in Stuart Green running onto Jobi McAnuff's pass through a gaping hole in the City's defence as they waited for an offside flag that never came to score easily. With the sides level at the break, the game could have gone either way, but City took a grip on proceedings in the second half and, although surviving a couple of scares, always looked the more likely winners - they left it late, but sealed the points six minutes from time when Scimeca tapped in after Chopra's shot from twenty yards came back off an upright.
Although no one knew it at the time, this was to be Sam Hammam's last away match as the head of the football club and he celebrated our win by telling the assembled hacks "We are playing an orgy of football. The other team know they are going to get it, but they don't know from who and from where. But they know they are going to get it. It's very sexual football."!
Another near full house was at
If you want to nominate a moment of the season, this was it for me - City had scored another late goal to beat a good team and had done it by sticking to their guns and playing patient, passing football right to the bitter end. As the crowd made their way out from the Grange End that night, some people around me starting singing "we're going up as f*cking Champions" and, fool that I am, I believed them!