On This Day 1965 – Jimmy Hill’s Super Sky Blues Slam Southampton!
On this day (14th September) in 1965 the Sky Blues under iconic manager Jimmy Hill were a month and a half into the 1965-66 Division Two season which would see them just miss out on promotion to the top flight ‘promised land’.
They eventually finished third after giving it a good go (and set the foundations for promotion success to the top division for the first time in the club’s history the following season). The Sky Blues performances at home were particularly pleasing.
They had reeled off a 2-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers at Highfield Road on the first day of the season, followed up by a 1-0 win over Bury and a 3-3 draw with Manchester City. Six days previously they had met Southampton for the first time this season at the Dell and lost by the only goal of the game scored in the 61st minute by Martin Chivers.
This day’s 5-1 demolition of the Saints, at the time Division Two leaders, in the return game was another very encouraging result especially since they did not seem to be firing on all cylinders!
Unusually, the Sky Blues five goals came from five different players from all over the pitch. Only 31 less than 30,000 fans at Highfield Road watched with pleasure as the Sky Blues iconic No.9 George Hudson, No 10 Ernie Machin and No 11 Dave Clements made their contribution from the forward line.
