Sitting Pretty At The Top Of The Table!

By CovSid67
September 7 2007

Having such a poor recent record against Preston, this was one of the matches I said we had to win if we were to have serious designs on a Top 6 finish - and we did! (Beating three of our other bogey sides is also essential). But, for a while it didn't look as though it was going to happen....

We left it late, but we did prove the 'experts' right by defeating Preston (The Favourite: 'Home win is the only result that looks possible'), and returned to the top spot - having lost said position in the division by virtue of kicking off five hours+ after Bristol City!

Having lost the player who helped them to reasonable success over recent seasons, David Nugent, they also lost solid and dependable 'Cov Kid' Graham Alexander to Burnley (With Coventry so short of cover at right-back, a mere £200,000 wouldn't have been a lot to spend on such a player!). Possibly as a consequence of the former, PNE found themselves fairly adrift at the wrong end of the table, without a goal to their name....

The home side started well, with Gray and McKenzie combining to create a decent chance after four minutes; an Adebola miss after nine minutes (Is it just my opinion, or does his head seem to have shrunk?); and a clear foul on McKenzie, which should have seen an advantage played, but a free-kick given instead (Something the referee should have allowed half-a-dozen times in this match, but always stopped play rather than keep the game flowing). The free-kick came to nothing.

Then, once again, the softest of goals was conceded by Coventry City. Konstantopoulos' poor kick led to the error that led to Preston's first goal of the season, and his kicking throughout was fairly poor too (Has he been watching that Ogrozovic video again?), but, with said keeper revealing his family are perilously close to the fires in Greece, he can be forgiven (Some would say as a professional he should be able to switch off during matches, but to that I say 'cobblers').

The goal clearly knocked the home side, though they did still create enough chances to go in ahead at half-time, but failed to convert any, with Doyle heading a Gray cross just wide, while a looping Gray header was cleared off the line by Carter, with the keeper well beaten.

Soon after the sucker punch, the home side had a big shout for a penalty, but the appeals were waved away by the referee (The referee could/should have awarded half-a-dozen in this match, but always turned the appeals down - however 'stick on' they seemed). The referee also seemed fairly reluctant to book Preston players, however bad the challenge too....

McKenzie was having an off day by the standards of this season so far, seemingly moaning at every ball played to him! Whether it was in the air, on the floor, to feet, in front of him to chase, with his back to goal, facing goalwards, whatever, it was wrong! And despite, after-matc comments by a fair few, that suggested Adebola had a stormer of a game, I thought he was poor too - with two-goal hero versus Carlisle, Michael Mifsud, very unlucky not to be in the starting XI.

Half-time entertainment consisted of three females singing opera (Fairly sure there was a Pavorotti tune in there somewhere, though I'm sure it's only a coincidence that he died days later!), and, while I wish them well, I can't help thinking said musical offering would be somewhere near the bottom of most peoples list of ways to waste fifteen minutes. Fairly sure'The Enemy' would be better received....

A boringly predictable Coventry City kick-off - a hopeful Hughes punt to where Adebola's head would be if he could head the ball - resulted in McKenzie picking up a booking for a foul on Chilvers.

Doyle's quality of set piece was poor throughout the match (As were the quality of CCFC throw-ins, with nobody seemingly wanting to receive the ball), though one decent effort from a corner did result in Marcus Hall going close with a header (Had it been a couple of inches lower, PNE could have been reduced to 10 men, as a player on the line appeared to raise his hands to make sure the ball stayed out of the net!).

A flap by Preston keeper Lonergan, who failed to read the bounce of the ball, almost saw McKenzie equalise, though his shot went just wide of the post.

With 20 minutes of the second half gone, and with thoughts of a Sky TV / Preston / possible home jinx beginning to enter my head, Mifsud replaced McKenzie, and immediately things looked better (It took a mere two minutes for Mifsud to go close, just failing to reach Gray's cross). Less than 10 minutes later, Cairo replaced Tabb, and suddenly a defence the Preston defence had to deal with pace in abundance!

Preston made their first change in between Coventry's two, with Blackburn loanee replacing Carroll, who trotted off at snails pace so as to run down the clock (It's fair to say that their second substitute moved slightly faster, with Coventry having equalised, as did their third!).

A poor kick out from Lonergan landed at the feet of Hughes, and, with the keeper way out of position, it was surely worth a long-range effort - but Hughes opted to pass .... no surprise (It was noticeable that he's added heading back to his own keeper to his reportoire of ways of finding his won keeper from anywhere on the pitch!).

A Mifsud run saw him out-pace half the Preston team before unleashing a shot which just flew over the bar, while perhaps Preston's only chance of the second half was wasted as their player slipped over as he headed towards the Coventry penalty area.

Cairo's cross was headed just wide by Mifsud on 75 minutes, while Gray hit a decent chance very high and very wide soon after. Just as it seemed all the effort was going to be for nothing, the goal the home side deserved arrived as a quality turn and finish from Adebola resulted in an equaliser for Coventry City.

Despite Preston's poor start, a fair few people probably would have taken the draw, but a Michael Doyle screamer after 85 minutes gave Coventry City all three points. I doubt he will ever hit the ball sweeter if he stays with us for another 10 years!

One or two frightening bursts of pace from Mifsud could have made the scoreline even better, but 2-1 was good enough to see Coventry City back at the top of the table anyway.

Sadly, for those in the media that keep trying to deprive Coventry of the top-spot, we are no longer just alphabetically top of the pile (With the 'Co' of Coventry coming before the 'Cr' of Crystal Palace and the 'Ip' of Ipswich Town, to anybody that didn't finish day three of their infant schooling), but now we have more points than the rest.

Also sadly, there was a slight disturbance outside - though which set of supporters was responsible for starting this is open to some debate. No need - it's only a football match people....

Team: Konstantopolous, Osbourne, Hall, Ward, Borrowdale, S. Hughes, Doyle,Tabb (Cairo 72), Gray, Adebola, McKenzie (Mifsud 65). SNU: Marshall, De Zeeuw, Simpson.