2/2/98
COTTEE ENDS OLD TRAFFORD JINX
TONY Cottee today (Monday) reflected on finally completing one of his few unfulfilled footballing ambitions.
The former West Ham ace grabbed City's winner in a famous 1-0 victory over Premiership champions Manchester United.
And his first half volley past Peter Schmeichel meant that he had finally broke his Old Trafford goalscoring duck.
Cottee said: "It's always been one of my ambitions to score at Old Trafford but I thought it was one that would never be fulfilled.
"In 15 years with West Ham and Everton I never managed it once although I have had quite a few hooked off the line.
"So to finally score was a fantastic feeling, one made all the more important because it was a winning goal as well.
"It's nice to read all the newspaper headlines on the Sunday and today and it does feel like the years have rolled back a while.
"Moments like those don't happen too often in football and it is important that you savour them."
Cottee was only playing in the absence of leading scorer Ian Marshall.
And the City striker - rescued from Malaysia for £500,000 six months ago - revealed he only knew he was playing an hour before kick off.
"The manager had spoken to me in the week about the fact that I could be playing.
"But it wasn't until the team was read out at 2pm in the dressing room on Saturday and I knew for definite was in.
"Really, it was a fantastic performance by everyone out there.
"I felt we deserved to win on the basis of our first half performance when we created quite a few chances.
"Of course, in the second half we expected to come under the cosh.
"Manchester United put us under a tremendous amount of pressure but we defended superbly."
Cottee was finally brought out of the action wth five minutes remaining with cramp.
But City boss Martin O'Neill paid tribute to the pint-sized striker's performance.
"Tony was magnificent. He took his goal superbly and his all round work was marvellous.
"I told him to last as long as possible and he amazed me by staying on for 85 minutes, given that he is short of first-team match action.
"This was definitely Tony's best game for us in a Leicester shirt."
COTTEE ENDS OLD TRAFFORD JINX
TONY Cottee today (Monday) reflected on finally completing one of his few unfulfilled footballing ambitions.
The former West Ham ace grabbed City's winner in a famous 1-0 victory over Premiership champions Manchester United.
And his first half volley past Peter Schmeichel meant that he had finally broke his Old Trafford goalscoring duck.
Cottee said: "It's always been one of my ambitions to score at Old Trafford but I thought it was one that would never be fulfilled.
"In 15 years with West Ham and Everton I never managed it once although I have had quite a few hooked off the line.
"So to finally score was a fantastic feeling, one made all the more important because it was a winning goal as well.
"It's nice to read all the newspaper headlines on the Sunday and today and it does feel like the years have rolled back a while.
"Moments like those don't happen too often in football and it is important that you savour them."
Cottee was only playing in the absence of leading scorer Ian Marshall.
And the City striker - rescued from Malaysia for £500,000 six months ago - revealed he only knew he was playing an hour before kick off.
"The manager had spoken to me in the week about the fact that I could be playing.
"But it wasn't until the team was read out at 2pm in the dressing room on Saturday and I knew for definite was in.
"Really, it was a fantastic performance by everyone out there.
"I felt we deserved to win on the basis of our first half performance when we created quite a few chances.
"Of course, in the second half we expected to come under the cosh.
"Manchester United put us under a tremendous amount of pressure but we defended superbly."
Cottee was finally brought out of the action wth five minutes remaining with cramp.
But City boss Martin O'Neill paid tribute to the pint-sized striker's performance.
"Tony was magnificent. He took his goal superbly and his all round work was marvellous.
"I told him to last as long as possible and he amazed me by staying on for 85 minutes, given that he is short of first-team match action.
"This was definitely Tony's best game for us in a Leicester shirt."
Code:
P W D L F A PTS
1 Man Utd 24 15 4 5 51 18 49
2 Chelsea 24 14 3 7 52 25 45
3 Blackburn 24 12 9 3 44 24 45
4 Liverpool 24 13 6 5 39 19 45
5 Arsenal 23 11 8 4 42 26 41
6 Derby 24 11 6 7 39 30 39
7 Leeds 24 11 5 8 34 27 38
8 West Ham 24 11 2 11 36 35 35
9 Leicester 24 8 9 7 27 22 33
10 Newcastle 24 9 5 10 25 29 32
11 Sheff Wed 24 8 6 10 37 47 30
12 Southampton 24 8 4 12 26 33 28
13 Coventry 24 6 9 9 28 34 27
14 Everton 24 7 6 11 28 35 27
15 Aston Villa 24 7 6 11 26 34 27
16 Wimbledon 23 6 8 9 22 27 26
17 C Palace 24 5 8 11 21 34 23
18 Tottenham 24 6 5 13 21 41 23
19 Bolton 24 4 10 10 21 40 22
20 Barnsley 24 6 3 15 20 59 21
