On this Day: City win our first FA Youth Cup

On this Day: City win our first FA Youth CupThe triumph was made all the sweeter given the opposition – neighbours and rivals, Manchester United.

>It was a two-leg affair, staged at both club’s main stadiums, with a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in the first game in front of 7,602 fans.

>Midfielder Aidan Murphy opened the scoring for the Red Devils on 49 minutes before Paul Lake levelled matters from the spot on 82 minutes.

>That set up a tantalising decider at Maine Road on this day 40 years ago as Tony Book’s charges looked to get our hands on silverware.

>David Boyd headed us into a lead on two minutes in front of 18,158 supporters before fellow forward, Paul Moulden, guaranteed the trophy following a 3-1 aggregate scoreline.

>From the First XI that day, seven of our Boys in Blue would go on to appear in the first team and make a total of 1,397 appearances bet.

>They were Andy Hinchcliffe, Ian Brightwell, Steve Redmond, David White, Paul Moulden, Paul Lake and Ian Scott.

>Ian Brightwell topped the list with 380 from August 1986 to March 1998.

>Paul Lake, talking about his memories of the game this week, told us: I don’t want to believe it’s 40 years ago today since we triumphed over Manchester United in the FA Youth Cup final, but the calendar doesn’t lie!

>“Every young player strives to win the youth equivalent of the FA Cup, and I remain very proud to have gained that honour by playing alongside some fabulous team-mates like David White, Ian Brightwell, Paul Moulden and Steve Redmond.

>“To have such a tough route to get to the final – winning against Fulham and Arsenal – and then beating your arch rivals over two legs was simply unbelievable. There was nothing sweeter!

>“The memory of that fabulous final at Maine Road, played in front of an amazing home crowd, is something that I will always cherish.

>We will speaking to several members of the team for a more in-depth feature in the run up to this season’s FA Youth Cup final which, by a quirk of fate, features City and United once again.

STARTING XISteve Crompton • >Steve Mills • >Andy Hinchcliffe • >Ian Brightwell • >Steve Redmond (captain) • >Andy Thackeray • >David White • >Paul Moulden • >Paul Lake • >. Ian Scott • > David BoydSub: John BookbinderManager: Tony Book

>Photo courtesy of Dr Gary James