Top flight* League fixture
*Then known as Division One

Notts County 5     Coventry City 1
Fashanu 11, 75                                       Gillespie 79
Lahtinen 42
McCulloch 68
Hooks 77
 

Attendance :- 8,689
Referee:-  J. D Hough (Macclesfield)
 

Notts County
Colours:- Black & white striped shirts, Black shorts, White socks
League Position:- before match 16th/22, after match 16th/22
Manager:- Jimmy Sirrel & Howard Wilkinson

1.   Mick Leonard
2.   Mark Goodwin
3.   Nigel Worthington
4.   David Hunt
5.   Aki Lahtinen *
6.   Pedro Richards
7.   John Chiedozie
8.   Justin Fashanu
9.   Iain McCulloch
10. Ray O'Brien
11. Paul Hooks

Sub: Ian McParland *
 

Coventry City
Colours:- All sky blue with white sleeves and a giant 'T' sponsor logo
League Position:- before match 5th/22, after match 6th/22
Manager:- Dave Sexton

1.   Les Sealey
2.   Danny Thomas
3.   Brian Roberts
4.   Ian Butterworth
5.   Paul Dyson
6.   Gary Gillespie
7.   Steve Whitton *
8.   Gerry Francis
9.   Mark Hateley
10. Jim Melrose
11. Steve Hunt

Sub: Keith Thomspson *

Video of the match:- No TV or video camera was present.

Report
None available.

Up the Maggies footnote:
It had been 5 weeks since the last Saturday home match and so I was very much looking forward this one. Notts had just won away at Manchester City and would go on to beat Spurs 3-0 the following week. The Magpies were really flying Vs 5th placed Coventry and Aki Lahtinen in particular caught my eye, the Finland international scored Notts 2nd goal but was very badly injured in the 2nd half and had to be taken off on a stretcher and ended up in hospital with a fractured cheek-bone. Coventry City were not particularly popular with football fans in general at the time, they had been badgering the football league to allow them to change their name to 'Coventry Talbot' which would have opened the door to a flood of very tasteless sponsorship deals, thankfully the league refused. City's close ties with Talbot (car manufacturers) had also caused problems with the TV companies because, in those days, clubs were not allowed to wear sponsored shirts for televised matches, yet Coventry refused to wear anything other than their ridiculous strip with the giant 'T' emblazoned on it and so City were not seen on TV at all for a period - The attitude of a lot of fans was "Who the hell do they think they are?" and so this 5-1 victory was all the more sweet. Although Notts were still a lowly 16th, they were now 10 points clear of the drop and only 5 points behind 5th! Coventry's no.8 that day was the son of Magpies legend Tony Hateley, Mark went on to play for AC Milan and England in the World Cup (there was a strong desire to bring him to Notts in the early 1990's but sadly it never happened).

Notts County Season 1982/83
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