On This Day 1983 – Lucky 13 As Sky Blue Bamber Bests Arsenal At Highbury
On this day (15th October) in 1983 the Sky Blues manager Bobby Gould took his team to Highbury for a Division One game with Arsenal. Bobby, of course, had been a renowned striker with both clubs but as a ‘Cov Kid’ was desperate to do well against the Gunners! There was a crowd of 20,290 in the stadium including a good showing from Bobby’s home city and they went home up the M1 very happy with a 1-0 victory.
The man that did the damage was the Sky Blue forward Dave Bamber who had made a return following a virus that had kept him out since August. Despite looking a bit rusty Dave got his eye in two minutes after the break by volleying in a cross from Ashley Grimes.
Not only was the win a welcome one for the Sky Blues and Dave it was particularly important as becoming CCFC’s first win at Highbury in thirteen visits over a whole decade! City’s defence did well to keep the vaunted Gunners attack quiet and Arsenal’s new £650k signing Charlie Nicholas cut a forlorn figure during most of the game. City’s win left them fourteenth in the table with Arsenal tenth. City fans sang ‘Ba-Ba-Bamber’ on the way out!
The graphic below provides the important match details. Appropriately for this game between the Sky Blues and the Gunners the referee was Mr A. Gunn!