Chris Coleman, the Coventry manager, has at last managed to find his voice with his team cruising to a convincing 2-1 victory over embattled Charlton Athletic. The win is, however, no reason to for Coventry to celebrate as it continues to lurk just below the mid-table. Meanwhile, the situation is even more pathetic in the case of Charlton Athletic with the recent defeat ensuring that it continues to languish at the bottom. (Read on …)

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 – 4 W BA

What a difference from the last international break, when we had the sight of the Sky Blues sitting proudly atop of the Championship for two weeks, following last nights debacle, I would imagine Mr Dowie can’t wait for the next game, to attempt to put the record straight. For this was a miserable second half performance from City, with all the endeavour, so readily in evidence this season, sadly missing in all areas of the pitch.

Lets clear up the “Big Decision” first, Michael Mifsud led with his elbow and can have no complaints about the decision to be shown a straight red card, the fact that the referee deliberated so long before producing it, only managed to cloud what was a very easy decision to make. What followed, in the first half at least, showed what a spirited bunch of players the manager has at his disposal? The second half however, provided a different story altogether, with the defence pulled apart, almost at will and the tracking back tailing off, allowing a good Albion team, to look like World Beaters.

We started brightly again, hitting passes to feet and looking to use the width and pace of the little Mosquito whenever possible, but all that changed on 10 minutes when, for reasons only known to him, Mifsud had a rush of blood and got himself sent off. City adapted well and, to be fair, looked the better side, but endeavour will get you so far in football and although we held our own, we rarely looked like taking the lead. Whilst at the other end, big Dimi did well to push a Teixeira shot over the bar for a corner. HT 0 – 0

The Baggies came out for the second half looking like a different team, Tony Mowbray had obviously instilled into his charges that the way to play against 10 men, is to keep the ball and look for the gaps. It worked to a tee, with gaps aplenty for the visitors to play in to. Dowie made one change at the break himself, removing the languid Leon Best, who he replaced with Kevin Kyle.

On 55 minutes the visitors took the lead, a ball was knocked inside Isaac Osbourne into the path of onrushing Paul Robinson. The fullback placed a deft chip over the advancing Dimi, to the delight of the boinging away fans. It would have been nice if we had tightened things up for 5 – 10 minutes, but two minutes later it was 2 – 0. This time the little Portuguese Star nipped in between the hesitant DeZeeuw & Turner to blast past the startled City Keeper.

The home players heads seemed to Palpably drop after this goal, with all the hard work looking like it would count for nought, Leon McKenzie replaced the tiring Adebola, but not before Albion had made it three. On 72 minutes Teixeira found a bit of space inside the box, then manoeuvred himself into a position to place a shot past Bid Dimi again. By now all signs of resistance had fallen away, allowing Jonathan Greening plenty of time to dictate the play, passing the ball, at will to his team-mates, in all areas of the park.

With time almost up, and most City fans having made their way to the exits, the visitors scored a fourth. This time Teixeira crossed for Koren to tap into an empty net and City’s embarrassment was complete. That’s 10 goals conceded against three promotion hopeful’s, without a goal to call our own. If ever a takeover was needed, it is now well overdue at the Ricoh Arena.

GT M.O.M.

Michael Doyle

Player Ratings:

6 ……. Dimi

5 ……. Hall

5 ……. DeZeeuw

5 ……. Turner

5 ……. Osbourne

2 ……. Mifsud

6 ……. Doyle

6 ……. Hughes

6 ……. Tabb

5 ……. Adebola

4 ……. Bestwe H

For our second “Executive Away Day” we travelled with Raj Athwal to Stoke City with a 40 strong group of Sky Blues fanatics, with a meet time at the Ricoh of 10h30, there was plenty of time to have a “cup of tea” before embarking on our mission for 3 points against the improving Potters. All aboard and we were off, with our now famous win over Man Yoo on the DVD and a happy mood enveloped the bus.
(Read on …)

A feeling of utter bewilderment seemed to cover most of the stadium following Carlton Cole’s late winner, against a rejuvenated Coventry City team, who seem to be saving their best for the cup. I for one felt a mixture of pride and dejection at the final whistle. Pride at the manner the Sky Blues went about their work, with a fierce determination to compete on level terms with the visitors and utter dejection at seeing the faces of the players at the final whistle, having lost to a Premiership Team, who had two shots on goal all night.

This was a game when the best side lost, the team with all the grit and determination, guile and none too small amount of skill, came off second best. We could chose to blame individuals, but I think we should concentrate on the plusses from this fantastic Cup Tie, played with pretty good spirit throughout. (Read on …)