19810127 Coventry City 3 : 2 West Ham United - League Cup - Semi Final (1st Leg) - Goals

Описание: Goals - Includes footage of Coventry City 3 : 2 West Ham Utd – Football League Cup Semi-Final (1st Leg).

This match was played on Tuesday 27th January 1981 in front of a crowd of 35,468.

The game has been seen as one of the most exciting League Cup matches ever played.

I have pieced together video from VHS footage (via YouTube) and from the original master tape recorded at Highfield Road Stadium via a feed from the ATV video unit. While the VHS footage quality is not the best by any means, the low band U-Matic tape I have is much better. The video I have completed includes some footage never broadcast.

The U-Matic tape I found in my attic only included the last 25 minutes of the game, but I have included Coventry City’s three goals. The 1st half tape was re-used and the first 25 minutes of the 2nd half tape was erased leaving only the last 25 minutes of this half of footage.

ATV were part of the ITV network until the end of 1981 and they recorded this match for ITV’s “Midweek Sports Special”, presented by Brian Moore.

Commentator: England World Cup/ATV’s “Star Soccer”, Hugh Johns.

Coventry City Manager was Gordon Milne;
West Ham United Manager was John Lyall

From the Coventry City Former Players Association website:

This was a really big one for the club! On this day (27th January) in 1981 the Sky Blues played West Ham United in the League Cup Semi Final first leg at Highfield Road. What a game and it’s still talked about today!

The Hammers went into a 2-0 lead after 35 minutes play with scores from Billy Bonds and an unfortunate Garry Thompson own goal. West Ham kept the lead going into the interval, so things looked bleak for the Sky Blues chances of reaching Wembley. However, after the break the Sky Blues kids came out fighting and roared back! Unbelievably they pulled it back level with second half goals from Association members Garry Thompson (70) and Gerry Daly (75) and then, with the seconds ticking down Garry bagged his second with 89 minutes on the board. As he got onto a through ball and planted the ball into the corner of the net the ground erupted in hope and expectation. Garry, in a sense, had got a hat-trick!!

However, this was only the first leg of the tie with CCFC visiting the Boleyn ground on February 10th and, as we all know, the Sky Blues lost the second leg 2-0. Second half strikes from Goddard (61) and Neighbour (89) did for the City as the last minute goal meant the Hammers got the Wembley prize 4-3 on aggregate and Coventry missed out on their first trip to the twin towers.

The game is fresh in our memories due to the published book by Sky Blue author Steve Phelps which looks at the promise of City’s young 1980-81 squad and how it came so near to making Wembley for the first time.

Please visit the Sky Blue Archive to access an extensive library of information from 1919 to Present Day – skybluearchive.com

Dean Lander / Sky Blue Archive / @MrViewSky
November 2025