Six goals on the road and a magical display by Ali Benarbia - we recall a memorable trip to Hillsborough from 2001...
The Kevin Keegan era was well and truly underway.
City’s first seven games of the 2001/02 Championship campaign had produced a total of 30 goals and an average better than four per match.
The Blues were great box office and the Keegan Factor of ‘we’ll score one more than you’ was food and drink to City fans.
And who better to steer the rollercoaster ride that was Manchester City than the man who had made entertaining football fans his life’s work?
Incredibly, this was City’s FIFTH season in a different division after a yo-yo existence that had seen the Club teeter on the brink of sinking without a trace...
The delirium and unstoppable momentum that had propelled the Blues from the jaws of a third tier play-off defeat to the Premier League within 12 breathless months had finally caught up with Joe Royle’s side and immediate relegation from the top flight had presented Keegan with the manager’s hot-seat at Maine Road.
Now the former England and Newcastle United boss had been tasked with taking City back up to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
The new manager’s signings had sparked excitement among the fanbase, with Keegan’s preference for flair and skill seeing the arrivals of Eyal Berkovic and Ali Benarbia, while his signing Stuart Pearce on a free transfer as his on-field lieutenant was a masterstroke.
Yet from the first seven Championship matches, City had won just four and lost three.
A chastening 4-0 defeat to West Brom, plus losses at Coventry and Norwich meant the Blues travelled over the Pennines to face Sheffield Wednesday having lost three out of four games on the road already.
Backed by around 8,000 City supporters at Hillsborough, Keegan’s side needed to get off to a good start against the Owls, but within three minutes, the hosts were ahead as Pablo Bonvin’s fortuitous deflection beat Nicky Weaver to make it 1-0.
“It was a big day for me, my family and friends,” recalled Weaver.
“Being a boyhood Wednesday fan and former season-ticket holder, it was the first time I’d played at Hillsborough, so it was a massive occasion for me.
“I was excited to go and play there, but we’d had some mixed results so hadn’t really got into our stride.
“But with the players we had and Keegan coming in, we felt we could give it a good go.
“The season before had been tough and we'd lost a lot of games. We just wanted to play free-flowing football and with players like Ali Benarbia and Eyal Berkovic, we knew what we were capable of.
“Ali had arrived a few weeks before and ahead of his debut against Birmingham, we were all wondering who he was. By the end of that game, we knew exactly who he was – a little magician.”
Another loss so early in the campaign – particularly against a side in the bottom three – would have been damaging, though not necessarily excessively so, but on 21 minutes, City were levelled when Benarbia collected a corner clearance, shimmied past a couple of defenders, and tucked a low shot past Kevin Pressman in the Wednesday goal.
Three minutes later, the Blues were in front, as Shaun Goater chased Pearce’s long ball to lob over the advancing Pressman to make it 2-1.
“I chased after that pass and I saw the keeper was off his line and I think the keeper thought he was going to get there first,” recalled Goater.
“But I thought I could get to it before he did and when I did, I lobbed it over him and was pleased to see it land in the back of their net."
The Bermudian came close to adding a third moments before the break as the City juggernaut looked like finally shifting up a couple of gears.
But, just as had happened in the first-half, Wednesday scored moments after the second period began.
Leigh Bromby – who had linked with the Blues on a number of occasions – rose to nod past Weaver and make it 2-2 from a corner, and then the City keeper kept his team level shortly after as he denied the lively Bonvin’s long range effort with a low save to his right.
“I honestly don’t remember either of Wednesday’s goals,” said Weaver.
“What I do recall is Ali tearing Wednesday apart that day. He was sensational.”
The Owls’ equaliser stung City into action and, attacking the end housing a vociferous travelling support, began a devastating 20-minute period that blew the Owls away.
Benarbia floated a ball across to Danny Granville on the edge of the box and his clever chested pass to Goater was immediately played back into his path and the wing-back expertly tucked the ball past Pressman to make it 3-2 on 59 minutes.
“This was an assist before people recognised an assist officially,” laughed Goater.
“I made a few that weren’t too bad! In this case, I played it so he didn’t have to adjust that much because Danny was so left-footed.
“He made a move to look as if he was going to have to adjust to his left foot, but he didn’t have to – it was perfect!”
Benarbia was everywhere and a constant thorn in the hosts’ side, so it was no surprise when he created another goals on 68 minutes as a long throw-in was cleared to his feet on the right of the Wednesday box – he took a quick glance up and sent a deft, pacy chip into the six-yard box for Paulo Wanchope to head home and put City 4-2 up.
Two minutes later, it was 5-2 with the imperious Benarbia again the architect and Goater again on target.
City wrapped up three points just two minutes later with the goal of the game.
Benarbia found Danny Tiatto’s run down the right and the Australian then returned the favour, finding the advancing Algerian magician on the edge of the box who in turn spotted Goater’s movement and threaded a sublime pass into this path which he collected, rounded Pressman, and slid home from an acute angle.
“I remember that goal well!”
Shaun Goater
“Wednesday were holding their line in the box, but I had been thinking about some of the passes Ali had been making in previous games where I had started to run – then stopped – and the ball would end up where I would have been if I’d kept going.
“So, I decided that I needed to keep running once I’d started and that’s what I did this time. The weight of the pass was perfect because Danny Maddix thought it was the keeper’s ball and the keeper thought he would get it, too.
“Meanwhile, I’d timed it just right, nicked it around Pressman and then rolled it home – but it was the pass from Ali that made it and he seemed to operate on a different level to everyone else. The weight on that pass was just perfect.
“To this day, I don’t know how he did it.”
The City fans were in raptures – Benarbia was almost unplayable, and it was clear Keegan had found an absolute gem. And all this without the injured Eyal Berkovic.
“The away end was rammed, I remember that," said Weaver.
“We took thousands wherever we went but Hillsborough gave away fans a terrific view with the two tiers behind the goal.
“It showed how good we could be when we were at it and when we eventually got into our stride, few teams in that division could live with us.”
It was a warning shot for the rest of the division, too that City meant business under Keegan.
But it wasn’t quite over and with 20 minutes still to play, a rampant City went looking for more goals and on 79 minutes, the chance to grab a sixth presented itself as sub Darren Huckerby chased a long cross-field ball into the box where he was felled by Danny Maddix.
Wanchope stepped up to hammer the spot-kick high into the roof of the net to complete a 6-2 victory.
Would The Goat have taken it had he been on?
“I’d come off for Huckerby on 74 minutes otherwise I was having that penalty!” joked Goater.
“Or maybe I could put another spin on it and say I was a team player so would have let Paulo take it?
“People who didn’t get to see Ali play are unlucky. He was a wonderful footballer and if he was in the that final third, he would hurt you because he knew how to deliver a pass.
“He was something else that day and he had the ability and vision to play in the City team of today.
“Ali was an exceptional footballer and two or three passes ahead of everyone."
City weren't quite on their way just yet, however.
One win in the next five games, including a 4-0 home defeat to Wimbledon, saw Keegan make one or two tweaks to his tactics and personnel.
But his team would go on to win the second tier title with 99 points and 108 goals playing a brand of football the City fans lapped up.
For many Blues supporters, the 2001/02 season remains one of the most enjoyable of the recent past...
David Clayton
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