I have two.
First is an away defeat against Port Vale in the third game of the 2004/05 season. I'd been unable to get to the first two games - both victories against Bournemouth and Torquay - so this was my first game back in the third tier. That Port Vale side was a very good one, the Steve Brooker way too good for that level and future City players Sam Collins and Billy Paynter in their ranks. We were sat in the bottom corner of Vale Park - a ground I have a lot of time for - and early on the ball was hit hard towards Nick Barmby's shoulder near us. Within the blink of an eye it was at his feet. It was a nothing piece of skill for Nick but I remember me and my brother looking at each other as if to say "wow, what's someone wearing a City shirt doing pulling off a nonchalant bit of skill like that?". Barmby scored his first goal not long after, only for Port Vale to take a 2-1 lead. We then attacked brilliantly - people will tell you that Peter Taylor teams couldn't attack, but I can produce numerous examples to prove them wrong - finally getting an injury time equaliser through Stuart Elliott. Sadly Vale scored in about the 95th minute, but we'd attacked so impressively in the game against a good team at that level (they were to beat us at the KC) and Barmby had shown that he still had it, I came away thinking we could rally do something that season. And then a fortnight later I was watching Michael Keane score a late winner away at newly relegated Barnsley, which helped make up for Steve Brooker's late winner.
Second is the 1-1 draw at Charlton in December 2007. The match at the KC a few months earlier had been horrible, with Danny Mills at his most evil. We lost 2-1 as a team that were masters of the dark arts outsmarted us. I'd also been at Southampton a couple of weeks before this game to see us lose miserably, 4-0, after which I was looking down the division and seriously worrying about another relegation battle. Against Charlton we were terrific. Fraizer scored to put us 1-0 up at half-time only for Charlton to score against the run of play around the hour mark. Mills had been up to his usual tricks, with him and Ash showing the dislike for each other that had festered since Mills' loan spell at City. Except this time City, and Ash in particular, outsmarted the bald ****. Him being sent off was a great moment, celebrated like a goal by the City fans in the away end. We then went on to do everything but score, with (if memory serves) Fraizer and Steve McPhee missing three one-on-ones between them and us hitting the post a couple of times. But no matter, and evil **** had been sent off, we had become a smarter team within the space of a few weeks, and I was no longer worried we were going down. It was an important game for us, and a hugely enjoyable one.
