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Remembering the day Coventry City spanked Liverpool 5-1 at Highfield Road

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Coventry City’s brief flirtation with a return to the Premier League must have brought back memories of clashes against Liverpool and Man Utd from older fans in the Sky Blue Army.

Sadly for the Sky Blues, Luton Town won the 2022/23 Playoff Final and took what many fans believed their rightful place in the Premier League, leaving Coventry City in the Championship, still dreaming of a return to the promised land.


Famous day in Coventry City's Premier League history

One match from the Premier League that lives long in the memory of Sky Blues fans old enough to remember, was when a Robert Rosario and Mick Quinn-inspired Coventry City team thrashed the mighty Liverpool 5-1 at Coventry’s previous home ground, Highfield Road.

Back then, Liverpool wasn’t the force, that they are today. The current team, managed by Jurgen Klopp, are one of the betting favourites to win the Premier League. Man City lead the way on 4/9, but Liverpool are a football bet of 13/2, making them third favourites with the bookmakers. The help of a betting calculator confirms that the odds of 13/2 are six and a half to one.

Anyway, the Liverpool team of the 1992/93 season may not have been as good as today’s Liverpool, and they were not nearly as good as the Liverpool team that dominated Europe in the early 1980s. But they still weren’t the worst team in the league, and boasted names like Ian Rush and John Barnes. So losing 5-1 to perennial relegation fighters Coventry City was more than a shock back in the day.

The Mighty Quinn

Also shocking were the players who tore Liverpool apart that day. Two of the most prominent participants were Robert Rosario and the other, scouser Mick Quinn - a Liverpool fan. The irony!

Robert Rosario was enjoying a renaissance in his career at the time, playing a role just behind the strikers at Coventry City. He chipped in with two assists on the day and was instrumental in the victory.

Former Everton full-back, Brian Borrows opened the scoring. He then added a second, assisted by Kevin Gallagher. Gallagher then made it three, thanks to the first of Rosario’s assists.

The comeback is on! 

Then Liverpool pulled one back, and everyone at the stadium presumed the comeback was on. 

But then up popped cheeky scouser, Mick Quinn, with arguably two of his best-remembered goals for Coventry City. Quinn was a ridiculed figure, slightly overweight, he was the self-proclaimed fastest man over one yard. But he had been given a chance by then Coventry manager Bobby Gould, and was determined to take it.

Mick Quinn finished the game as a contest when he scored on 71 minutes, from a Kenny Samson assist, another of Coventry’s crop of Dad’s Army. Then he put the icing on the cake after 74 minutes when he added a fifth, from Roasario’s second assist.

570. Mick QUINN


19.12.1992
COVENTRY CITY 5-1 Liverpool (74 mins)@mickquinn1089 plays a glorious ball out to John Williams on the left wing with the outside of his boot. Williams' cross finds Rosario at the far post who nods it into the centre where Quinn pounces to head home. pic.twitter.com/dIe2PDcx9T

— Premier League Players (@premlgeplayers) September 9, 2021

Not supposed to happen!

This wasn’t supposed to happen to Liverpool. And at the time it was their biggest defeat since 1976, when they also lost 5-1, this time to Aston Villa. The defeat heaped pressure on the then-manager Graeme Souness, who was the man charged with returning Liverpool to their past glory.

Ultimately Souness failed at Liverpool. But normal service was resumed later in the season for his team at Anfield when Liverpool spanked the Sky Blues 4-0. If nothing else, the Reds could argue they took the bragging rights on the away goals rule.

©The Football History Boys, 2023

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