Matchday Memories: On This Day 1991 – Butchers’ Boys Dish The Dale In The LC!
Terry Butcher welcomed by CCFC Chairman John Poynton
On this day (25th September) in 1991 the Sky Blues, with former England international defender Terry Butcher at the helm, were able to rest from their league travails on this day. Ten games into their Division One season they were not doing too badly in mid table with four wins and two draws to date. However the previous Saturday they had had a chastening time at Goodison thanks to a Peter Beardsley hat-trick as Everton beat them by three clear goals. Today however the task was to beat lower level opposition in the second round, first leg of the League (Rumbelows) Cup at Highfield Road.
Robert in the Sky Blue
Rochdale in the past had proved a bit of a banana skin ready for the Sky Blues to slip up but it was not to be this evening with a modest H.R. crowd of twenty under 6,000 seeing the Sky Blues triumph 4-0 (hopefully making the second leg away a formality)! City were two goals to the good at half-time thanks to a brace from fairly recent CCFPA recruit, centre forward, Robert Rosario. His first, after just a couple of minutes, was a header powered in from a cross by (later CCFPA’s 300th recruit) Peter Ndlovu. Robert’s second on 23 minutes came when he forced his way through into the box to chip the keeper.
Sky Blue Kevin Gallacher
In a largely one sided game the Sky Blues third came with just over a quarter of an hour of the game to go from (now CCFPA member) Kevin Gallagher who swivelled to thump home. ‘Gally’ had returned from an injury and not only made it 3-0 but hit the woodwork twice! The icing on the cake came in the last minute of the game from the unlikely source of City’s 1987 F.A.Cup hero, defender Lloyd McGrath, whose speculative chip managed to loop over the ‘Dale ‘keeper following a deflection! Though the so far unbeaten at home Rochdale did win the second leg by the only goal of the game at Spotland a fortnight later City went through by a 4-1 aggregate!
