Got back from the game 45 minutes ago, didn't realise it would snow all afternoon !! Driving conditions were between 30-40mph for a good 1 and a half hours of my journey back, kinda scary at times too ! Anyway, I digress. Onto the game itself. We lined up how we did vs West Ham. We HAD too. Shame in my eyes Carson didn't make the bench, but hey ho. We started the game on the front foot the first 10 minutes or so. Buoyed by confidence from the West Ham performance, the players were playing relatively eye pleasing football, without a real cutting edge it may be added. Coventry, in contrast were struggling to get going. They looked very short on confidence in essentially a " must-win " game, especially after letting them goals slip to Blackpool late on. Around 15 on the clock, Cresswell whipped a ball in, and Murphy headed over. Good chance. Poor marking by Coventry. We continued to have the better of the play, however Coventry WERE looking good on the break. Smith was struggling to deal with the physical nature of Coventry's well built striker, who was on times posing problems. On 23, goal. JET shot from the right, with the ball taking a nick of the defender, and into the net. It wasn't so much one-way traffic at this moment, however the lead was deserved. I thought this could bring the contest to life properly. Coventry, obviously needing the points, and lets see what we had to offer too. By this point, it was snowing more, and was FREEZING in the stands. However, on the 30 minute mark, Coventry equalised. It was a penalty, the ball hitting Sonko's hand, and we could be thankful for this as otherwise Coventry would have scored anyway. Goal. Undeserved, however they'd kept going. Turning point ? This goal brought Coventry more into the game. They were passing the ball with more gusto, their play zipping more than before. We were floundering by contrast to their equaliser, though looked in the game. It was much more a 50-50 contest by this point. As the game was approaching half time, Coventry went into the lead. More dodgy defending by Smith who was under 10% pressure, instead of being more composed and passing the ball to the keeper, booted it into the stand. 20 seconds later, the ball was in our net. Smith by this point was giving me a nervous breakdown every time he was within 10 metres of the ball. Not strong enough, nervy etc etc...... So half time came. 2-1 Coventry in appalling conditions. We'd shaded most of the half and were behind, however without creating a great deal else of note. I asked my girlfriend at this moment if she could see us turning the game around ? She replied " not with that defence ", to which I agreed. Two women two rows behind seemed to think they were managerial gods all the first half. They weren't, they were simply embarrassing. I, was more positive at the interval. Coventry had for large parts not been great. I thought a draw was on the cards. The second half started, with us really cranking up the pressure. Jewell had clearly got into the team at half time, and by now we were playing good football. Best of the match from us, and chances were coming. Chopra missing a glorious chance shortly into the second half. One of them days, or a case of continue plugging away and get your reward?? 63 minutes on the clock, we were level. Martin went on a surging run, and was upended in the box by a Coventry player. He fell admittedly a bit theatrically, however there was no doubt it was a pen. The Cov player was also final man. Should have been red, the ref bottled it. As did Martin,,,, however a good follow up from Chopra. 2-2. Game on ! 27 mins left - would there be a winner ? Coventry, started to play a bit better again. At 2-1 up they really had done little in the ways of searching for the killer blow. They haven't the confidence or defence to sit deeply and invite pressure on for 45 minutes. Not in a month of Sundays, bad tactics their end. They seemed to want the 3rd now, however we were increasingly more likely. Chopra wasted ANOTHER fantastic chance late on, with CLingan ( boo ! ) narrowly missing with a free kick. Late twist ? YES ! for once, our way. I cannot remember the build up, I can simply remember Chopra heading in for 3-2. If Coventry had been more brave,,,,,, maybe they'd have won. However, if we'd have defended better we'd have won by a lot more in all honesty. They looked a very average side, and I cannot see them getting out of that mess now. Players...... ALB - No chance on either goal, suspect kicking. Edwards - got forwards well, went trying to win the game, at times caught out defensively but other players need to fill in when he goes 45 yards forward. Sonko - 60/40 performance. Decent, while being hesitant at times with some awful distribution... Smith - horrific. We won't get anywhere where we want with him ( in his current state ) - go to the gym, and put on a good stone in muscle please... Cressy - Generally good ! Decent crosses in, caught out a couple of times. Hyam- Good in the air, some good sliding challenges. Misplaced some easy passes, but solid. Looks a player. Drury - Another decent ish performance. Likes getting on the ball and making things happen. Well done, helped win the battle in CM. JET - A lot better. Dangerous when on the ball, my girlfriend said " looks a key part of the team ! " Rarely gave the ball away..... Murphy - Good in the air, lacks the dribble ability. I'm unsure - Would prefer Carson in all honesty, but he does put in a shift. Martin - Probably star man. Went looking, ran with the ball well. Tried hard, well done. Chopra - Not his best game ever but 2 goals is what he's all about. Overall, a decent performance. We don't look in any danger of going down to me. Sort out the CB's for next season, as JET / Martin / Chopra are as good as any in this league as a frontline. Proud to be a blue !
A pretty fair summary Westy, although the ref was right not to send their guy of for the pen, Martin was not going directly at goal and there were other defenders pretty close by. Smiths poor touch forced him to boot the ball out for the throw in that led to the goal, but we still should have stopped it, 3 guys competed with Pratt but he still won the header & JET was daydreaming rather than marking his man. Drury whipped in the cross for the winner, again we were a tad fortunate as there was a definate suspicion of hand ball in the build up. I do think there was a hint of offside in the build up to their pen, but Sonko was not appealling for it, lol.
Nice report Westlake, gives us a good picture of the action. This certainly was a must win game for us especially on the back of last Tuesday's result, at least it puts a bit of breathing space between us and the relegation trap door. Continue like this and we'll be ok. The only thing is, to echo what everyone is saying, we cannot continue to leak silly goals like we're doing. We seem to be looking more of a threat up front, and have certainly stumbled on the perfect formula in midfield - though I'd like Carson to be an option, at least on the bench - come on PJ, let's get the cbs shored up!
Good report Westy, I couldnt believe it started to snow as soon as we pulled into the car park and didnt stop until we reached Cambridge on the way home. Also what great support we had when you think about our league position, I dont know what the number for away fans was but we outshouted the home fans easily in an almost empty Ricoh Arena. We looked strong in midfield and sharp up front but that central defence is a constant worry, if we could have reinforced the CBs in the transfer window we might just have a decent side.
(Town: 1,164). good numbers considering our league position I would say. Yep, awful first touch by Smith. He isn't remotely good enough in my opinion, but to be fair to the lad he gives it his all. He just needs to beef up, and preferably gain a bit of speed. I'm not surprised Jewell hasn't offered him a new contract yet at all. He needs to earn it.
Cheers for the report Westy and agree totally about Carson!! Also what about Stevenson, will he be able to force his way into the team? Seems like Hyam and Drury may be hard to dislodge!!
Stevenson will definitely get his chance, I wonder what will be going through Bullard and Leadbitter's mind at the minute.....!
