Matchday Memories: On This Pre Season Day 2001 – Irish Stalemate For Strachan’s Sky Blues At Bray!
On this Sunday (July 22nd) in 2001 Sky Blue manager (and former player) Gordon Strachan (now a CCFPA member) was further preparing his team for life in Division One after their devastating relegation from the Premier League after 34 years unbroken in the top division. The pre-season preparations were beginning with a three match tour of the Republic of Ireland. The Sky Blues had started with a 2-0 win over Dublin City on the grounds of University College Dublin (UCD) and continued with a 3-0 win over a student team drawn from UCD at the same venue.
Today WGS took the squad a short way down the coast to take on Bray Wanderers at the Carlisle grounds. The Irish side were not going to be a pushover as they had beaten a side from Northampton Town the previous week in a pre-season friendly and were looking forward to a date with Ipswich Town!
Gordon the Gaffer
Far from a training game, Gordon’s team were pleased to salvage a 1-1 draw from the game given they were missing some players like (both now CCFPA members) John Hartson and Julian Joachim and were apparently, WGS said, a little ‘tired’ after the two earlier games just the previous Thursday and Saturday.
Carlton in the Sky Blue
The Sky Blues gifted the Wanderers a goal after 21st minutes when Bray’s bustling forward Steven Fox read a mis-hit return pass quicker than Carlton Palmer to take the ball on and give the Irish side the lead. It was not until the 78th minute when CCFPA member John Eustace (like Carlton a CCFPA member now) scored for a second day in a row, slotting home a penalty awarded for handball in the box by Colm Tressall, to spare CCFC’s blushes and ensure the Sky Blues ended their tour of Ireland unbeaten.
A report from the Bray Wanderers‘ website can be found by clicking here and a brief BBC report can be read by clicking here.
John Eustace in the Sky Blue
The Sky Blues lined up as follows (subs in brackets/ CCFPA members underlined):-
Morten Hyldgaard (Chris Kirkland -46); Marc Edworthy (Barry Quinn -46), Ivan Guerrero, Paul Williams, Richard Shaw, Carlton Palmer (Marcus Hall -46), David Thompson (Laurent Delorge -46), John Eustace, Jay Boothroyd, Lee Carsley (Roland Nilsson -46) and Gavin Strachan (Lee Carsley -67)
Pat Devlin‘s Bray Wanderers team turned out as follows:-
John Walsh (Jimmy Fyffe -87), Colm Tresson, Philip Keogh (Kieran O’Brien -67), Jodi Lynch (Wesley Charles -44), Michael Doohan (Stephen Gough -87), Eddie Gormley (Maurice Farrell -41 then Sergei Brohorof -83), Barry O’Connor (Ciaran Ryan -67), Matt Britton (Keith Long -46), Stephen Fox (Dave Williamson -60), Jason Byrne (Sasha Chudak -83) and Thomas Morgan (Dave Campbell -46 then Gary Dempsey -83),
Subs not used were Glen Brien and Alan Young. The Referee was Paul McKeown
The remaining pre-season games involved a goalless draw at Brentford, a 1-0 defeat at Cardiff City and a 1-0 win at Highfield Road against Belgian side KAA Ghent.
Sky Blue ‘gaffer’ Roland Nilsson
Gordon was sacked on September 10th only five games into the Division One season having only achieved one win and the Sky Blues’ immaculate Swedish full back Roland Nilsson (a recent CCFPA recruit) took over and achieved an initial new manager bounce. This included an eleven-match unbeaten run which saw CCFC table toppers with a third of the season gone but the good form subsided, the play-off hopes and a return to the top drifted away and they finished eleventh well away from glory.
