On This Day At Manchester City

1990 – Everton

City faced Everton at Maine Road just five days after securing their First Division status with a 1-0 win at Norwich. The Toffees sat third in the league and had to win to keep their very slim chances of winning the league alive.

An entertaining game saw both teams create chances, but City were the ones to make the breakthrough in the second half thanks to Niall Quinn’s header. The 1-0 victory sent the blues above United by three points

1993 – Wimbledon

In the inaugural Premier League season, City were in no danger of relegation and were vying with Liverpool, Chelsea and Spurs amongst others to finish fifth in the league. The opposition were one place below the blues, but Wimbledon’s unpredictable nature, one which had earned them the title of the ‘Crazy Gang,’ left supporters from both teams wondering which way the game would go.

After a goalless first half, Wimbledon took the lead five minutes into the second half through Paul Miller. The blues had to wait until the 84^th minute when winger Rick Holden, who had jouned the club in the summer in exchange for Mark Brennan levelled the scores.

2001 – Manchester United

2001 was a dismal season for the blues and by the time they went to Old Trafford, the blues were five points from safety, while United had clinched another Premier League title. Defeat for the blues would all but relegate the blues.

And it looked bleak for City when Teddy Sherringham scored a penalty in the 72st minute. But the blues tried to make a fight out of their relegation battle and Steve Howey gave City hope of an unlikely victory when he equalised for the blues in the 84^th minute.

2002 – Portsmouth

Kevin Keegan had guided the blues back to the Premier League at the first attempt in 2002, and faced Portsmouth on the final day of the season on this day. City had lost just one of the last thirteen matches, a surprise 2-1 defeat at Stockport County, however City had won the last four matches, and had amassed 105 goals and 96 points.

It would soon be 108 and 99 points as City recorded a 3-1 win thanks to goals by Steve Howey, Shaun Goater and Jon Macken. City could have had a fourth when they were awarded a penalty in the last minutes of the match and Stuart Pearce, who had scored 99 goals in his career, stepped up and missed the spot kick.

2003 – Sunderland

2003 was an emotional year for City fans for two reasons. First up, City would play their final game at Maine Road. After 80 years, the bleus were due to move out of their ground into the new City of Manchester Stadium at Eastlands. The second one was because of one player who had captured the hearts of City fans.

Marc-Vivien Foe joined the blues initially on loan from Lyon but made himself a firm fan favourite, and he scored the last ever goal at Maine Road on this day. Sunderland were the opposition and the bleus won 3-0, thanks to two goals from Foe with a strike from Robbie Fowler sandwiched in between. Foe was rumoured to sign permanently for the blues, but sadly died in a Confederations Cup match against Columbia.

2014 – West Brom

City were challenging Liverpool and Chelsea for the title and it looked like the blues were out of the race after a 3-2 defeat at Liverpool. But just as in 2012, the blues pulled it out of the bag and a 3-1 win over the Baggies sent the blues on a five match winning run which took them to the title.

The three Argentines, Pablo Zabaleta, Sergio Aguero and Martin Demichelis all scored before half time to give the blues a 3-1 lead, which ultimately proved to be the final score.