Football How SuperBob’s hat-trick fired City closer to promotion 30 years ago
In the fourth article of a flashback series, RICHARD LATHAM , former Bristol City reporter for the Bristol Evening Post, recalls the 1990 game at the Vetch Field, where the promotion-chasing Robins romped to a 5-0 victory. The sides meet again tommorrow i
NOT even the great John Atyeo scored more goals in a season for Bristol City than Bob Taylor.
And no match better demonstrated the then 23-year-old striker’s brilliance than the Third Division visit to Swansea City on Tuesday, March 20 1990, which saw the Robins triumph 5-0.
Taylor’s hat-trick that evening took his goal tally for the 1989-90 season to 27. He would add seven more before a torn hamstring forced him to miss six of the last seven games.
But for that mishap, which occurred with manager Joe Jordan about to substitute him in the closing stages of a 4-1 home win over Crewe Alexandra, Bob might have matched or even bettered Don Clark’s 42 City goals in the 1946-47 season, which remains a club record.
He had just scored his third hattrick in the space of 12 games against Crewe and his importance to the team was confirmed when City won only two of their last seven matches, including the final one against Walsall.
Taylor could score all types of goals as his treble against Swansea demonstrated. The first was a header, the second a spectacular long-range volley and the third a poacher’s strike.
City went into the game second in the Division Three table behind Tranmere Rovers, but came out of it as leaders by two points and with two games in hand on their nearest pursuers. Bristol Rovers were a further six points adrift, having played one match less than City, and the result at Vetch Field suggested in no uncertain terms that the title was heading to Ashton Gate.
Swansea were hoping to provide a happy homecoming for Terry Yorath at the start of his second spell as manager.
They looked capable of doing just that for 25 minutes, which saw them quicker to the ball than City. Simon Davey, Steve Thornber and Tommy Hutchison all going close to breaking the deadlock. Then, within the blink of an eye, Taylor scored twice to give the visitors a grip on the game they never looked like relinquishing.
On 26 minutes, he reacted instinctively after his initial shot had rebounded off goalkeeper Lee Bracey and headed home from close range. Seconds later, travelling fans were celebrating again as Taylor latched on to a bouncing ball just outside the box and hooked an unstoppable volley past Bracey from 20 yards.
With Dave Smith producing his customary bursts down the left flank, City began to dominate. Swansea somehow held out until half-time, but four minutes after the break it was 3-0.
A free-kick routine off the training ground ended with Rob Newman swivelling to score with a low drive from 25 yards.
Taylor was proving unmarkable. On 55 minutes, he expertly controlled a Smith cross and turned on a sixpence to fire just over the bar.
Another Smith cross saw City’s top marksman head narrowly wide at the near post, before what had begun to look an inevitable hattrick was completed on 76 minutes. Taylor pounced on a poor backpass from Des Trick and reached the ball fractionally before the advancing Bracey to toe-poke it past the ‘keeper and over the line.
With his side four goals up, Jordan decided to substitute Taylor and defender Glenn Humphries, sending on striker Jason Eaton and full-back Chris Honor from the bench. Within minutes, the two replacements combined to make it 5-0. A neat interchange of passes ended with Honor shooting his first league goal with the assurance of a proven finisher.
The night belonged to the player City fans had already christened ‘SuperBob’. In my match report for the Evening Post, I posed the question: “What price Taylor in a week when forwards are changing clubs for telephone number fees?
“Valuation is academic as Jordan has no intention of selling. But, at 23, his hottest property is still improving and must now be worth several times the £225,000 paid to Leeds United a year ago.”
That deal included the partexchange of Carl Shutt, valued at £50,000. He had been popular with City supporters and many questioned the swap for a miner’s son from County Durham many had never heard about.
Jordan, who knew a thing or two about scoring goals, described Taylor’s finishing again Swansea as “of the highest quality”.
He added: “While Bob naturally grabbed the headlines, it was a real team effort. The supporters were magnificent and I’m delighted we rewarded them with a big win.” Taylor went on to score in five of City’s next six games, four wins and two draws, culminating with the hat-trick on that fateful evening against Crewe.
Contrast that with just one victory and three draws from the six matches that followed his injury, a run that ended with a 3-0 defeat by Bristol Rovers at Twerton Park, which saw the Pirates gain promotion and overtake City at the top of the table. It was a season that ended with both sets of fans celebrating a place in the second division. For Jordan and his players, however, runners-up spot behind their neighbours was a bitter pill to swallow.
Taylor began the following season with a double in the opening match, a 4-2 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Ashton Gate. But he was never the same force for City after Jordan left to become Hearts manager less than a month later.
It was still a surprise when City agreed to sell Bob to West Bromwich Albion for £300,000 in January 1992. At The Hawthorns, he recaptured his goal touch, scoring 96 times in 238 League games in the first of two spells that made him an enduring hero with Baggies fans.