Coventry 2 Ipswich 1

Having stated last April that he could 'hit 20 [goals] if I get a good pre-season under my belt and get plenty of time to prepare', Clinton Morrison went some way to reaching that target with two goals in the first game of the season to give Coventry City victory over Ipswich.

Just to prove that some things never change, the club did manage to annoy supporters by not actually bothering to activate a massive percentage of season tickets, though as per usual, the turnstile operators did a sterling job getting everybody into the ground before kick-off. On the pitch the club got it right though!

Considering some thought that the sale of Fox and Dann was the end of the world for Coventry City, this was a decent display, with enough positives to suggest the club might not actually sink without trace this season - and all in front of the TV cameras too. With three goals coming in the first 27 minutes, the armchair viewers, as well as the 16,000+ at the Ricoh, must have thought they were in for a goal feast. There were no more goals, but plenty of near misses....

Van Aanholt, despite only playing a dozen reserve games for Chelsea, looked a decent replacement at left-back, and a fairly tricky customer in the opposition half of the pitch too. He was blamed for Ipswich's goal, but did enough throughout the rest of the game to earn plaudits rather than criticism for his display. Clingan looked a massive improvement on Beuzelin and/or Doyle too, while the novelty of playing a left-sided midfield player on the left of midfield and a right-sided midfielder on the right, gave the side far better balance than we've had in years.

Clinton Morrison's first goal was described by one TV reporter as 'already a contended for Goal Of The Season' (Ipswich players and their manager moaned about poor defending costing them, but the reality is, Morrison's goal was a top quality finish); his second was an excellent stooping header, where he beat an Ipswich defender to an Osbourne cross. Morrison completed his quest for Man-Of-The-Match with a goal-line clearance which denied Ipswich an equaliser.

The free headers afforded to Ipswich throughout were cause for concern, as was the decision to try and hold onto the 2-1 lead, which again almost proved costly, though the home side did create more than enough chances to put the result beyond doubt before the fifth minute of injury time had been played. There was a fair shuffling of players in a bid to stifle Ipswich, with the majority of the side (Including substitutes) changing position at least once, with Elliott Ward enjoying a quality thirteen minutes on the pitch.

Ben Turner's contribution at the back was also worthy of note, while Aron Gunnarsson, moved out to the right and seemingly playing further up the pitch too, almost created a few moments to get supporters out of their seats, with a few powerful runs towards the Ipswich penalty area.

Team: Westwood, Osbourne, van Aanholt, Wright, Turner, Bell (Clarke 62), Gunnarsson, Clingan, McIndoe (Ward 82), Morrison, Best (Eastwood 61). SNU: Konstantopolous, Grandison, Jeffers, Cain.