Our Match from the Past takes us back to the 2004/05 season where City, under the new stewardship of Stuart Pearce, had stormed up the table and put themselves firmly in contention for a place in Europe for the following season. Aston Villa stood in their way but City swept them aside with aplomb in this battle.
It took City just five minutes to race out of the blocks. Shaun Wright-Phillips, in one of his last games in a blue shirt for a while, produced a moment of sheer brilliance to put City one up. SWP picked up the ball in the Villa half and raced towards the goal, past two defenders before rifling a shot past Thomas Sorenson in the Villa goal.
Seven minutes later and it was 2-0. John Macken superbly flicked on Antoine Sibierski’s cross into the path of loan signing Kiki Musampa who hit a fantastic volley into the top corner of the goal. City dominated the game but failed to add any further goals in the first half.
Half Time: Villa 0-2 City.
Villa upped the tempo in the second half and got their reward on the hour mark. Lee Hendrie’s dummy ran through for Juan Pablo Angel to slam the ball past David James to give Villa fans hope.
But City were not to let this game slip by them and SWP almost made it three but his chip went over the bar as well as the Villa Keeper. A certain Gareth Barry’s header drifted wide as Villa ran out of ideas and City were denied a third goal as Musampa, shot cannoned off the post. In the end, it was City’s day and the result truly justified the decision to award Pearce the Manager of the Month for April.
Final Score: Villa 1-2 City