Dele Double Dumps Dirty Rangers

By CovSid67
August 21 2005

Two weeks (Or five years!) late, and with a reduced capacity too, the Arena finally got it's first taste of football. And, as with the Derby display that said "Goodbye Highfield Road", Coventry were convincing winners....

For some, this was the first glimpse of the impressive new stadium, and it seemed some of the QPR supporters were as excited about the new ground as the home supporters, with over half of them inside the ground by about 2 o'clock! And thankfully, the two turnstiles that decided to stop working on their "proper" debut in the away section, waited 'til the majority of away supporters were inside the ground, enjoying the £2.60 pints of Carling....

Coventry City were without two of the players regarded as "star men" for their Arena debut: Stephen Hughes due to suspension, and Stern John due to jet-lag. It mattered not....

With Micky Adams side having been out-muscled a week before, Willo Flood was drafted in from Manchester City on a months loan - a bizarre decision, with WF being as fly-weight a player as you could possibly hope to find! He took his place on the right of midfield, with Jorgensen in for Hughes, and Scowcroft moving up-front - a position he looked far more comfortable in.

The tone was set before a ball had even been kicked, with players from either side appearing to square upto each other in the centre circle seconds after the two sides took to the pitch. Whether it was serious or not I'm unsure, but after what went on in the summer, I'm presuming it was for real....

Gary McSheffrey could - and should - have scored the first goal at the Arena within a minute of the kick-off, heading wide when a goal looked on the cards. A couple of minutes later, and Coventry were on the attack again, though wasted a chance as a moments hesitation saw the ball cleared by the QPR defence.

A Marcus Hall free-kick was headed on by Scowcroft on the edge of the area, but was cleared before any proper chance could be created. Soon after Matt Heath was booked, and a minute later QPR were given their first site of goal, with the Coventry defence giving away a free-kick in a dangerous position. Bywater saved the resulting effort with ease.

It took a mere 10 minutes for the Arena to see it's first goal, with Claus Jorgensen writing his name in the history books. Scowcroft laid the ball off to McSheffrey, and his superb cross was headed home in fine style by Jorgensen. QPR fans were silenced, as the acoustics were tested to the full in the home sections of the ground - most impressive!

Two minutes later and the second harsh booking saw Adebola join Heath in the referee's note pad. Quite what this was for only the referee knows, but seemed know worse than anything Adebola received all afternoon.

Having been accused of being out-muscled last weekend, the only thing Coventry City seemed guilty of was giving almost as good as they got - though the Coventry challenges seemed far more within the rules of the game than the challenges they were receiving. The difference was QPR went unpunished....

With 22 minutes played, Adebola doubled Coventry's lead with a quality individual effort - though if you saw the Championship highlights programme, the camera man managed to make this look fairly ordinary (Should being able to focus the camera, or concentrate on the "important" action be a must for such a job? Obviously not....).

Soon after, a lovely one-touch passing move from the home side was brought to an abrupt end by the linesmans flag. From my impressive view, this looked very harsh....

Having been accused of not getting close enough to his man in the first three games, Marcus Hall got very close to Ainsworth, and was booked for his troubles! This was the third of five bookings for Coventry City, and probably the only one that was justified - whereas a good few QPR challenges, which bordered on assault, went unpunished

QPR's tactics (They were quite clearly trying to get as many Coventry City players sent off as possible), and a very poor referee, were the only things that threatened to spoil the party - thankfully they both failed. You can change your team, you can change your surroundings, but alas, it seems match officials will always be the same....

Willo flood found himself in space, with a chance to make an immediate impact with the home fans, but opted to pass when being slightly more greedy might have brought more reward.

Booking No. 4 followed soon after, with Richard Duffy picking up his third booking in four games. Again, quite what this was for, not many seem to know (For "not many", read two - the referee and his assistant). Unbelievably, some QPR fans thought referee was OUR twelth man - seriously?! They are joking, right?!

Just to show that QPR don't know the meaning of sportsmanship*, with one of their players down injured, Bywater kicked the ball into touch - QPR re-paid the gesture by merely throwing the ball a few yards down the line for a Coventry throw-in.

Minutes before half-time McSheffrey tracked back to break up a QPR attack, and soon after Adebola scored his second, and Coventry's third goal (Three goals in four! Expect a bid from David O'Leary this week, as he runs out of options!). He capitalised on some poor defending to make the score 3-0, and gain some revenge for the treatment he had received in the first half.

Willo Flood was booked on the stroke of half-time. Yawn....

Obviously appalled by his teams first half display, one QPR fan removed his flag during the half-time interval, and put it away!

Within seconds of the re-start a foul by a QPR player on Adebola saw the aggressor go down injured, with the recipient able to carry on, and totally in the clear - so quite why the referee chose to stop this advantage and award Coventry City a free kick is yet another mystery that will know doubt go unsolved.

A poor QPR pass saw one of their strikers chase the ball in vain, and, as it ran out of play, he pushed Duffy over (Who required treatment). For this totally unnecessary foul, he was merely spoken to....

A terrible offside decision saw Coventry stopped in their tracks as they looked to increase their lead, then Adebola was hauled back as he threatened to go on another run. A yellow card was produced, which, with this referee, probably means it should have been a straight red. Minutes later the same player caused trouble in the QPR defence, and this time the referee did show a red card - which QPR unbelievably disputed. TV replays show Adebola's shirt was clearly pulled as he got goal side of Shittu.

Jorgensen found himself free on the left-hand side of the QPR penalty area, but his cross was cut out by the away defence as McSheffrey waited to score his first goal at the Arena.

A moment of indecision by Heath and Hall almost gifted QPR a sight of goal, though thankfully this was wasted.

Flood's last contribution before being replaced by Morrell was to almost set Adebola up for his hat-trick, with Royce blocking his effort.

In the only moment of sportsmanship shown by any QPR player on the day, Royce then helped a ball-boy out of an advertising hoarding he'd had to climb into to rectrieve the ball! (With the boards being double-sided, with only a hole in each end, this is something I had wondered about before kick-off!!).

Gary McSheffrey, who had been a doubt before kick-off, was replaced by Neil Wood, and his first contribution was to send in a cross Jorgensen should have scored from. This time his attempt at a diving header was missed, and Morrell, probably not expecting the ball to come to him, failed to score from a few yards out (Like David James on Wednesday, it seemed he wasn't prepared....).

Morrell was then clean through and in a potential goal-scoring position, but opted to cross to Adebola instead - sadly Royce saved it when it seemed easier to score. Adebola was then presented with more chances to properly write his name in history with a opening day hat-trick, but missed chances that looked far easier to score than his first goal!

His final contribution, before being replaced by Osbourne, was to unselfishly pass when he seemed to be in a decent position for a shot. Unsurprisingly, he left the pitch to a standing ovation....

Heath then gifted QPR with another chance of a shot on goal, though the effort was wasted, and only a danger to the few QPR supporters who had stayed 'til the end.

Seconds before the final whistle, Milanese was booked for QPR.

The majority of home supporters stayed 'til the final whistle, and applauded those that had made our first match in our new surroundings a great day - memories of the Burnley display forgotten....

After the match Ian Holloway apparently accused Adebola of going to ground easy - absolute b*ll*cks! I'm presuming his tongue was firmly in his cheek when he said this? (His arse cheek, obviously, as that's where he seems to speak out of). Had Adebola chosen to "go to ground easily" each time he received unnecessarily OTT treatment, most of QPR's defence would have been testing the all new shower system earlier than they did....

While there cannot be to much to moan about, having won the first match at our new "home" so convincingly, the lack of a clock makes writing a match report slightly tricky! (Yes, I could wear a watch, but I don't....).

(First half report from the NTL-Jewson corner, second half CET-NTL corner - it matters to some!).

* Perhaps not as bad as Watford, who ignored the fact Burnley keeper Brian Jensen was injured and laying on the turf for 20 seconds, and who went on to score into an unguarded net, making the score 3-1! Jensen was finally wheeled out of Vicarage Road to Watford General Hospital 25 minutes after the final whistle, with his neck in a brace and breathing through an oxygen mask....