The Sky Blues faced their seventh Division One encounter of the season on this day (September 25th) in 1982, under Dave Sexton. Despite two tight 1-0 home triumphs (against Southampton on the opening day and Sunderland), CCFC’s away performances have been disappointing, with defeats at Swansea, Ipswich Town, and Birmingham. The Sky Blues’ 2-0 loss to Arsenal the previous time they played at Highfield Road cemented a scoring drought (just four goals in their first six league games). Thankfully, that was about to change today, as Everton were the victims in front of a crowd of only 9,297 at Highfield Road!
One notable difference was that Jim Melrose, our new Scottish striker signing from Leicester City, was making his home debut. Jim had come to Highfield Road as part of a trade with the Foxes that had sent young Tommy English (now Jim’s fellow CCFPA member) to Filbert Street. Jim instantly won the Sky Blues supporters at home by scoring a hat-trick (21, 53, and 67 minutes)! City were dominating in the air (due to our powerful centre-forward Garry Thompson) and on the ground (thanks to Steve Hunt’s deception, who had recently returned from the United States). Both are currently members of the Association.
By the 67th minute, the City had built a 4-1 advantage, with Steve scoring our other goal.
Kevin Richardson, a key future Sky Blue midfielder, was also among the Evertonians’ starting eleven.
When Keith Thompson replaced Steve near the conclusion of the game, he was joined in the Sky Blues front line by brother Garry, the only time they had played together in the Sky Blue first squad and the only time siblings had played together for CCFC since the 1920s! Keith then joined CCFPA as well.
That day, Sexton’s Sky Blues included (CCFPA members underlined):-
Les Sealey, Danny Thomas, Brian Roberts, Steve Jacobs, Paul Dyson, Gary Gillespie, Steve Whitton, Gerry Francis, Jim Melrose, Garry Thompson, and Steve Hunt (sub. Keith Thompson) were among those who passed away.
Howard Kendall’s Toffeemen were arranged as follows:
Kevin Richardson, Michael Walsh, Mark Higgins, Billy Wright, Steve McMahon, Trevor Ross (sub.
