Peterborough v Manchester City: the story of their only previous meeting

Manchester City will be clear favourites to beat Peterborough United when the teams meet in the fifth round of the FA Cup this week. Even though there is only one division between the clubs, they exist in different worlds. Three divisions separated the clubs the last time they met – their only previous meeting, which was also in the fifth round of the FA Cup – but City fans were not as confident when they travelled to London Road on Valentine’s Day in 1981.

“There’s no way Manchester City can afford to be complacent,” said Peterborough manager Peter Morris. That may sound bullish for a manager who was working in the fourth tier, but City had been humiliated by lower league opponents, Shrewsbury and Halifax, in the previous two seasons and they had sacked Malcolm Allison just a few months earlier. Things were improving under new boss John Bond, but the 8,000 City supporters who made the trip to Peterborough must have been trepidatious. Barry Davies and the Match of the Day cameras also made the trip, clearly hoping for a shock.

The FA Cup draw had thrown up some interesting fixtures for Bond. In the third round his team had thrashed a Crystal Palace side managed by Allison. In the next round, he had enjoyed a victory over his former club Norwich, with his son playing for the club he had left behind.

The Peterborough tie also had a link with the City manager’s past, pitting him against Morris, who he had signed seven years earlier. “I have a close connection with John,” said Peterborough boss Morris. “He signed me for Norwich for £70,000 when I was 31, and then encouraged me into management at Mansfield. John’s cup run this season has been about reunions of one kind or another and they have been happy ones so far. I hope