SKY BLUES 2 – 1 MILLWALL At long last, a home win for the Sky Blues, even though it was in the FA Cup with points on the board an important factor, a good cup run is always a welcome distraction for any team these days, not to mention the extra finance it can produce. The guessing game of who would partner our only fit Centre Half was also answered, with Gary Borrowdale having a fine game in the Heart of the defence.

Elsewhere Stephen Hughes came in for his namesake Michael, whilst Dele Adebola got the nod in place of the suspended Kevin Kyle. Having had a chat with the Millwall kit man before the game, who assured me that they were up for this game, and had nothing to lose, it came as no shock when the visitors came flying out of the traps in the opening 10 minutes. A corner on 8 minutes gave them the chance to take the lead, when Dimi seemed to hesitate and ended up colliding with Elliot Ward, allowing Grabban to direct a header goal wards, fortunately Jay Tabb had stayed on his post and cleared off the line. 

With almost 15 minutes gone City started to get hold of the ball, passing it with more purpose than of late and where rewarded for their efforts with a dubious free-kick on the edge of the box. The ball seemed to hit the defender in the face, but the referee Mr Miller, deemed it hand ball, and up stepped Doyle to knock it sideward’s to the waiting Hughes, who fired it into the net. City kept prompting and probing but the Lions stood firm and started to dominate proceeding themselves, as the half wore on.  

Mr Miller then made a very strange decision, not his last of the day either. following an injury to a Millwall player, rather than give the ball back to the Sky Blues, he deemed that a good old fashioned “Drop-Ball” was needed, Doyle, as is his want, went in for it and won the ball cleanly, only to have his legs taken from under him, play on waved Miller, to a mixture of Jeers & Cheers, dependant on which camp you were in.

As City looked to be heading for a half-time lead, young Arsenal Loanee Jay Simpson found himself some space in the box to notch the equaliser. This sent the away fans delirious with delight and brought a real cup tie atmosphere back to the boil. HT 1 – 1

Immediately from the restart Simpson had a chance to give the Lions the lea, but Dimi stood up and pushed his tame shot for a corner. It seemed to spark the Sky Blues back to life and they enjoyed huge chunks of possession from here in. So much so that we regained the lead on 52 minutes. Julian Gray, who was AWOL for large parts of the game, suddenly made a run and cross from the left flank, Ward jumped with the keeper, who pushed it to Adebola, he hit a shot onto the post and the rebound fell to the feet of Mifsud, having done little else on the day, he coolly slotted home from 6 yards. 

This only had the effect of raising the noise level up a couple of decibels, creating an atmosphere that has been sadly lacking in the Ricoh for a while, whilst no quarter was given by either side on the pitch. Adebola was replaced by Robbie Simpson as Millwall pushed for another equalising goal, this allowed City room for the counter attack, which they took on numerous occasions, without ever seriously testing Evans in the opposition goal.

Elliot Ward, who had a big game for the Sky Blues, then made a complete hash of a clearing header, knocking it directly into the path of Neil “Chopper” Harris, Millwall’s record goal scorer, but he somehow contrived to shoot wide form 12 yards. Mr Dowie decided to give want away striker Leon Best a win bonus and he replaced the tiring Mifsud, to a chorus of Boo’s from the home support. He managed a couple of half decent efforts and City always looked likely on the counter, Millwall seemed to fade as the game wore on and it is the Sky Blues who go into the hat on Monday, with a place in the last eight at stake for the victors!

GT M.O.M.

 Jay tabb 

Player Ratings: 

6 ……. Dimi

6 ……. Osbourne

7 ……. Ward

7 ……. Borrowdale

6 ……. Davis

8 ……. Tabb

6 ……. Doyle

6 ……. Hughes

5 ……. Gray

6 ……. Adebola

6 ……. Mifsud

SKY BLUES 1 – 2  BURNLEY 

All the talk in the press over the past week was of the return of KK, or King Kev as he is more colloquially known and so Ian Dowie deemed it appropriate to include our very own KK, with not quite the fans thoughts deeming him King Kev, in fact he will be lucky to get any sort of support after his ridiculous lunge early in the second half, reducing the Sky Blues to 10 men for almost 40 minutes. I am, off course, referring to our very own KK, Kevin Kyle. Having spent the whole of the first half defending him against a backdrop of disgruntled supporters, I looked on incredulous as he was shown his second yellow card of the afternoon, with what can only be described as a reckless lunge, leaving the pitch to a crescendo of Boo’s from his own fans.

 Ian Dowie had reacted to the lacklustre display against Leicester by ringing the changes, 5 of them in fact, with Davis, Tabb, M Hughes, Doyle & Kyle all earning recalls. It looked like it may pay dividends, with Mifsud feeding off the occasional well directed header from KK and in fact, squandering a couple of gilt edged chances. But as has been our want at home recently, these misses were to prove costly as Ade Akinbiyi opened the scoring for the visitors. Local lad Graham Alexander broke down the right before squaring the ball into the space behind our flat defence and the striker used his pace before driving past Dimi. This should have been the signal for the fans to get behind their team, but a minority, which grew in numbers, began to abuse their team with most abuse hurled in the direction of Kyle. The doubters were silenced shortly thereafter, when Doyle notched an equaliser, albeit a bit of a scrappy one, following a couple of parried efforts from Jensen in the visiting goal. The following ten minutes didn’t prove too promising for the Sky Blues, with Akinbiyi continuing to look a threat against our very flat defence, but it held firm. Blake got a booking for the visitors, before Kyle followed him into the book for a needless shove. HT 1 – 1 The Sky Blues came out with a plan for the second half and for 10 minutes looked comfortable, but then KK had his rush of blood and was shown a second yellow, before the inevitable Red Card. Some sections of the home support cheered as the striker headed off, others, myself included, just looked on in desperation at such a foolish act.  To be fair the ten men gave a pretty good account of themselves, and the action seemed to galvanise them, Michael Hughes & Doyle took control of the midfield, ably supported by Tabb. Adebola replaced the ineffectual Gray and ID went for a 4 – 3 – 2 formation in an effort to win the game. Mifsud looked to be on his way to doing just that, before an intervention from Unsworth took the ball from his toes, the crowd bayed for a penalty, but to me it looked clumsy, but I feel he took the ball. Straight from their next move Burnley re-took the lead, Michael Doyle lost the ball in the middle of the park and the visitors stormed away to score. Akinbiyi unselfishly passed to Blake, who finished with some aplomb. City pressed late on and had a couple of long-range efforts and Mifsud had another decent opportunity, but another home defeat tells its own story. City are a side looking short on both confidence and ability at present, with the introduction of a couple of new players a pre-requisite to any push up the league table. With Leon Best having handed in a transfer request on Friday and Robert Page also heading for the exit door, Mr Dowie needs to get replacements in place sooner, rather than later. GT M.O.M.M Hughes Player Ratings: 6 ……. Dimi6 ……. Osbourne6 ……. DeZeeuw7 ……. Ward5 ……. Davis4 ……. Gray5 ……. Doyle7 ……. Hughes7 ……. Tabb5 ……. Mifsud3 ……. Kyle