Robins hails Walsh for a starring role

BRISTOL City are delighted with Liam Walsh’s progress at Coventry City.

The 22-year-old midfielder couldn’t fail to catch the attention of Robins’ manager Lee Johnson and his coaching staff after his sensational solo winning goal for the Sky Blues against Rochdale last weekend.

His success has sparked speculation as to whether the Championship club could recall the player in January, cutting short his season-long stay.

And while the Robins’ assistant head coach Dean Holden says he “comes into the reckoning,” he has reiterated the reason he went out to get games in the first place.

Asked about Walsh’s stunning goal, Holden said: “He’s got that quality in abundance, there’s no two ways about it.

“Fair play to him, he’s realised that time on the pitch with us is limited at the moment, I would have to say, and he’s going out there and doing very well for such a big club as Coventry.”

Walsh is one of 16 other Bristol City players currently out on loan at various clubs, including Joe Morrell who has been earning rave reviews at Lincoln City and for his international side, Wales.

Asked if there’s any chance the two could be recalled in January, Holden said: “It’s something that we are constantly looking at in terms of behind the scenes.

“Those two obviously come into the reckoning.”

IPSWICH Town’s victory over Lincoln City in the FA Cup first round replay means the Tractor Boys will be at St Andrew’s to face the Sky Blues next Sunday in the second round. Whilst the clubs have met many times in the league and League Cup, they have never met in the FA Cup before.

It means the clubs will meet twice in six days at St Andrew’s as the Suffolk club are due to face the Sky Blues in a league game the following Saturday.

The obvious question arose, when did City last play the same club at home on successive weekends?

The answer is January 1947 when City were drawn against Newport County in the third round of the FA Cup, a week before the club’s Second Division clash at Highfield Road. Newport were having a nightmare season and would eventually be relegated having conceded 133 goals and City were comprehensive winners of both games.

George Lowrie scored a hat-trick in a 5-2 victory in the Cup-tie, with other goals from Ted Roberts and George Ashall. Seven days later City won 6-0 with Lowrie getting another hat-trick and Roberts (2) and Ashall also on the scoresheet again.

City travelled to Division Two leaders Burnley in round four and lost 2-0 to a team that would reach the final at Wembley in May.

There is another occurrence of successive home games against the same club: on October 26 1959 City played Southend in a Southern Floodlit Cup replay (a competition which pre-dated the League Cup), having drawn at Southend the previous week.

City won 4-0 with goals from Ken Simcoe (2), Brian Nicholas and Alan Daley. Five days later Southend were back at Highfield Road for a league game and this time the Bantams won 2-0 with goals from Ray Straw and Ken Satchwell.

This was the fifth year that the Southern Floodlit Cup was played for but only the second season that City had entered. It was somewhat of a ‘Cinderella’ competition but all the league sides in London and the South entered and put out strong teams. After defeating Southend, City beat First Division Fulham and Southampton to reach the final against West Ham who were defeated 2-1 at Highfield Road in front of almost 17,000.

There are some other examples of several games against the same club in a short space of time.

In 1986 City played Liverpool three times in eight days with two League Cup games and a league game at Anfield in between.

In 1932 City faced Reading four times in 17 days with an away league game and an FA Cup tie that went to three games including a second replay at Stamford.

TALKING of Ipswich Town, longdistance City fan Colin Heys asked me about a Coventry City game against Ipswich in 1982. He has acquired a single-sheet programme for the game played at Highfield Road and wondered why a full programme wasn’t issued.

The Sky Blues had been due to play Ipswich on November 14 but the game was postponed because of World Cup qualifying games. It was rearranged for a midweek game (February 26).

On Friday January 15, as snow and ice hit the country, City’s scheduled game at Old Trafford was called off because of a frozen pitch. City chairman Jimmy Hill moved quickly and suggested to Ipswich manager Bobby Robson that City could play Ipswich on a frost-free Highfield Road the following day. Bobby agreed and the game went ahead at short notice.

There was no time to print a full programme but enough time to get BBC Match of Day cameras there.

Sadly City blew a good chance of beating the league leaders and threw away a 2-1 lead, conceding three goals in the last nine minutes. There were only another four games played in Division One that day.

John Wark scored first for Ipswich but with nine minutes left City led through goals from Steve Hunt and Gerry Daly. As City wilted, goals from Arnold Muhren, Paul Mariner and Alan Brazil sealed the win for the Tractor Boys. The attendance was 11,578.

City’s line up was: Blyth: Thomas, Barnes, Francis (sub Hormantschuk), Dyson, Gillespie, Bodak, Daly, Hateley, Hendrie, Hunt.