SKY BLUES 1 – 1 SOUTHAMPTON

And so the waiting is finally over, the impossible has been achieved. Some said it would never happen, others waited with baited breath. It seems to have gone on forever, but at last, the waiting is now over and the Sky Blues have scored a goal in the first half at home.

The other, long standing saga, the takeover of the club was also finalised just before the 16h00 deadline on Friday. Whilst this should provide the dawn of a new era for the club, I have it on very good authority that not all in the Boardroom is happy, more of which later. 

My day started with a tour of the Ricoh for myself and my family, organised by Trudi, the Premier Club Manager and included a trip into the inner sanctum of the Stadium, a look inside the home changing room, where we bumped into Michael Doyle, before being welcomed to by outgoing Chairman Joe Elliot. Who took the time to shake all our hands, then down the tunnel onto the pitch side, finally a seat in the dugout and photo’s to savour. A very pleasant, and surprisingly inexpensive, meal followed in the Yorkshire Bank lounge, before finally presenting our Man-of-the-match trophy, rounded of proceedings. 

Michael Mifsud was declared fit, providing the only change in personnel, replacing Ellery Cairo in the right side of a three pronged attack alongside the two Leon’s, Best & McKenzie. Elsewhere, Michael Hughes got the vote over namesake Stephen, with Doyle & Tabb either side of him. The back four of Ward, Turner, Borrowdale & McNamee lined up again, with Big Dimi between the sticks. City made a bright start, after welcoming Ray Ranson as new Chairman and giving a firm thank-you to his predecessor “Sir” Joe Elliot, for all his hard work in orchestrating the deal.

Stern John had the ball in the net early on; he was roundly booed every time he touched the ball, but had his effort ruled out for offside. On 17 minutes, City’s endeavour led to us taking the lead, Good work by Mifsud led to a ball into the 6 yard box, it fell to the unmarked Tabb, who nodded it home. Much to the annoyance of the visiting players and fans, who all looked to the linesman for offside?

The midfield axis of Tabb, Doyle and Hughes took a gradual hold in the Centre, whilst Southampton always looked dangerous on the break. Ward and Turner needing to be on their toes and putting in timely tackles as the half wore on. HT 1 – 0 

The second period started in a similar vein, with McKenzie making inroads down the left flank, whilst Best looked determined to score against his former paymasters. Then, from nowhere, the visitors were level. McNamee, who had another outstanding afternoon, gave away a needless free-kick and when the ball was played into the area Bradley Wright-Philips headed home.

Slowly Yousef Safri got a grip in midfield and Southampton took control, Leon McKenzie limped of, to be replaced by “Twinkle Toes” Julian Gray, before Adebola replaced Best and Isaac Osbourne came on for the tiring Tabb. Wright-Philips should have stolen the three points for his team, when clear through on goal, only for the excellent City Keeper to push his effort wide.

From here the game petered out into a disappointing draw, but with Ranson and Dowie meeting in the near future and a promised cash injection to follow, the future is looking a little brighter for the Sky Blues faithful.

 GT M.O.M.

Michael Hughes 

Player ratings:

 7 ……. Dimi

8 ……. McNamee

7 ……. Turner

7 ……. Ward

6 ……. Borrowdale

7 ……. Tabb

8 ……. Hughes

7 ……. Doyle

6 ……. Mifsud

6 ……. Best

7 ……. McKenzie 

SKY BLUES 0 – 1 SHEFF UTD We can call this match the “Waiting Game”, waiting for news of the takeover, waiting for the Sky Blues Second – Half onslaught, waiting for Leon McKenzie to score his 100^th goal and, perhaps more importantly, waiting for three home points. The truth of the matter is though, that we are still waiting on all counts. No news of the impending takeover, which is a bit of a worry following the mangers recent show of uncertainty. The second half onslaught never looked like occurring and even more worrying, was the lack of McKenzie even threatening to score. It is perhaps, a wonder he has go to 99 at all. Coventry’s own “Tinker Man” made three more changes from the disappointing result against Scunthorpe, with Elliot Ward surprisingly dropped, to be replaced my DeZeeuw, Borrowdale replaced the injured Marcus Hall at left back, and Cairo got a start in place of Isaac Osbourne, in what looked, on paper at least, an attacking line up. As the game commenced, however, we realised Mr Dowie had plumped for the 4 – 5 – 1 formation he seems to favour now. This has its merits, but the visitors had done their homework, man marking Jay Tabb and putting two men on big Dele, thereby negating our main threats. As has been his inconsistent form this term, Julian Gray looked more languid than usual, preferring to keep out of the way as much as possible and rarely threatening to get in behind his marker. Cairo also had a quiet game always hungry for a touch, without ever setting the game alight, and so a rather sterile affair plodded along to the break. With only a 32^nd minute shot troubling Paddy Kenny in the visitor’s goal. Doyle had an effort cleared for a corner and Adebola should have done better when clean through. So, for the eleventh consecutive game City went into the break goalless. HT 0 – 0 City made one enforced change at the break, with Osbourne replacing the excellent McNamee at right back, the Scot having picked up a slight hamstring pull; otherwise, it was as you were. On 60 minutes James Beattie, who had an otherwise quiet afternoon, forced Dimi into a save with a header. City’s only response being the “Belt it to Dele” approach, which was clearly having no goal threat at all. Shortly thereafter and we were behind, Beattie made a strong run down the right flank, before sitting a lovely ball into the box, where Chris Armstrong met with some aplomb. Dowie sent on McKenzie and switched to 4 – 4 – 2, and took off Cairo, with Gray looking ill at ease by this time, I believe it was a bad call, but McKenzie’s arrival stirred, as did other members in the crowd, who booed the decision. Gillespie then had a chance to increase the lead, but shot into the side netting, in front of a very vociferous away end. In a last gasp effort to salvage a point, Dowie replaced Borrowdale with Andrews, but to score a goal, you need to have a shot on target and I’m afraid to say, we didn’t trouble Kenny throughout the whole of the second half. And so the waiting goes on, the takeover talk seems to have stalled, as does our points gaining. McKenzie will have to wait for his 100^th goal, we wait for a first half goal and with West Brom on the horizon, and I wouldn’t hold your breath. GT M.O.M.Stephen Hughes Player Ratings: 6 ……. Dimi7 ……. McNamee6 ……. DeZeeuw6 ……. Turner5 ……. Borrowdale6 ……. Cairo7 ……. Hughes6 ……. Tabb6 ……. Doyle4 ……. Gray5 ……. Adebola Subs: 6 ……. Osbourne6 ……. McKenzie5 ……. Andrews