WE’VE compiled the City team of the decade and the best games.
So now it’s the contentious list of deciding on our pick of the goals.
My personal list includes some from the massive occasions in the last 10 years but also those crackers that illuminated an otherwise low-key affair. Feel free to disagree, as always!
10) PAUL TAYLOR v Oldham, October 2017
A Tuesday night remembered mostly for the eccentric efforts of referee Chris Sarginson to take nearly five minutes to find a player to book.
But before that there was an exceptional early strike from Paul Taylor. Exchanging a short free-kick with Nicky Law, Taylor lined himself up to let rip from 30 yards leaving keeper Johnny Placide groping at thin air.
9) BILLY CLARKE v Chesterfield, December 2014
Strikers often have certain clubs they always score against – the Spireites were Clarke’s opponent of choice in a City shirt.
He saved his best for his 27th birthday, controlling Rory McArdle’s long pass over his shoulder with a deft piece of control with his left foot, dragging the ball back inside and working enough of an angle for a precise finish into the far corner.
8) JAMES HANSON v Burton, May 2013
James Hanson made his City career on his aerial ability and an under-rated left foot. The right one was supposedly his swinger.
But in the play-off second leg at the Pirelli Stadium, he used it to deadly effect. Winning a header to Nahki Wells, who rode the challenge to return a pass for Hanson to thud low from the edge of the box like a missile.
7) GREG LEIGH v Aldershot, November 2015
The left back played only nine games in his season at City, unable to dislodge James Meredith. But he scored two special goals.
The highlight was in the FA Cup replay with Aldershot, galloping upfield to cushion a long ball without breaking stride into the penalty area where he beat the advancing keeper with an impudent lob.
6) ANDY HALLIDAY v Chelsea, January 2015
Another FA Cup tie from the season before but on a slightly grander stage. Clawing two back to level against a stunned Chelsea, we all know the rest.
Filipe Morais laid a ball into Jon Stead at the near post, where it inevitably stuck before he rolled it back into the path of the advancing Halliday to sweep home.
5) KYEL REID v Walsall, October 2013
I can’t remember seeing a harder shot in my time covering City than the one that Reid pinged into Walsall’s net – flying back out with equal force.
The winger was in his own half when he received the ball from Gary Jones. Turning on the pace, he slipped past two opponents before pulling the trigger from 30 yards that flew past a certain Richard O’Donnell. It would have taken his head off!
4) NAHKI WELLS v Rochdale, November 2011
The young Bermudian was barely known when Phil Parkinson gave him a chance in the FA Cup first round.
Everyone knew his name after he picked up possession well inside his own half and just kept going. As Rochdale continued to back off, Wells got within 25 yards of goal where he sent the ball crashing in.
3) BILLY KNOTT v Leeds, August 2014
A finish that Kop dreams are made of. With Leeds leading 1-0 and time running out, they fail to clear Gary Jones’s corner.
It popped out to Billy Knott on the edge of the D. One touch killed it, the next lashed it into the roof of the net as Sky co-commentator Andy Hinchcliffe roared: “No goalkeeper in the world is going to stop that.”
2) MARK YEATES v Chelsea, January 2015
A special goal to cap off the most special result as City’s incredible comeback at Stamford Bridge was confirmed in stoppage time.
Substitute Yeates flicked a pass with the outside of his boot to Jon Stead, holding it up with his back to goal. Yeates continued his run around the centre forward, whose turn on the spot and lay-off set him up for a jabbed finish beyond Petr Cech.
1) JAMES HANSON v Aston Villa, January 2013
A text-book header from a corner on the money – but it was so much more than that.
From City’s first corner of the Villa Park semi-final, James Hanson got away from his marker Christian Benteke to meet Gary Jones’s set-piece with a thumping nod that we will forever see in our sleep.
The image of Hanson, right arm pointed aloft in the snow, is THE moment of City’s decade.
What goals have we missed? Let us know in the comments section and vote in our online poll here
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