Pummelled By Preston, A Win Versus Wolves

By CovSid67
January 8 2006

According to a stolen statistic, Coventry City have never won an away fixture on New Years Eve (Thanks to Kev Monks for that one!). Losing away to Preston, it seems, is compulsory too - it's only the style in which we choose to lose that has to be decided.

For this season we opted for "not bothering to join in in the first half, leaving ourselves with a mountain to climb in the second". Not the option I would have chosen personally....

Playing with one striker also didn't help matters, and having seen this tactic fail so often, it was no surprise that the Preston keeper barely touched the ball in the first half.

Nowland opened the scoring, a penalty for Preston by "Cov Kid" Graham Alexander made it 2-0, and on the stroke of half-time it was game over as Sedgewick added a third.

Stern John, on as a half-time substitute, pulled a goal back for Coventry - though any fight-back looked as likely as Ronaldinho joining us in January's transfer window.

Goodbye 2005 - you won't be missed as far as football is concerned.

Two days later, and into 2006, it was on to the match versus Wolves....

Our home record against them since dropping down a division reads: won nil, drawn one, lost two (With the first of those defeats being in our first home match back in "Division Two").

The biggest crowd seen at the Arena so far (Though some 3,000+ less than the predicted 30,000) was also one of the quietest, with both the Coventry City and the Wolves fans obviously still hung over from the New Years' festivities. There was a poor turn-out in the corporate section of the ground, and once again (Modesty not intended) my idea to over-sell that side of the ground by at least 25% looks like a decent one....

Injuries forced Micky Adams to re-call Adie Williams (After all 40 turnstile operators stated they were unavailable for one reason or another), and he showed exactly why he should not have to wait long for his next appearance, while Stern John also earned a start. Both did more than enough to suggest they have more to offer than those that have kept them out this season (As long as they can continue to play to this standard).

McSheffrey could have scored one of the fastest goals of the season but wasted the chance, though a mere six minutes in it was 1-0 to the home side. Scowcroft was credited with the goal, but it appeared to hit two Wolves defenders before nestling in the back of the net. It mattered not.

A great ball from Osbourne set Adebola free on the left, and his cross in was superbly dummied by Stern John, arriving back to Osbourne. Unfortunately the ball stuck under his feet slightly, and the chance was lost.

Stern John, often accused of not putting in enough effort, put in a superb challenge some 30 yards away from the Wolves byline to stop a potential attack (And attempted to start one for Coventry), and minutes later went in where it hurts again - this time he was fouled, and left in agony on the floor.

Michael Doyle shot just wide in the 18th minute, and soon after Wolves looked likely to equalise after mounting a counter-attack, with an effort lobbed over the advancing Fulop. Marcus Hall got back well, and looked to have the effort covered anyway, as he watched the ball bounce inches past the post.

A moment of good sportsmanship by Cameron saw him kick the ball out of play when in a good position to shoot, because Richard Shaw had been lying on the floor injured for a good few seconds. This did not go down well with a couple of his team-mates, or the Wolves supporters!

Having been used as a climbing frame for the first half-hour by the Wolves left-back, Scowcroft was finally awarded a free-kick after reaching double figures. The free-kick was put out for a corner, and from it Coventry scored.

A Lescott own goal made it 2-0 after 35 minutes, when McSheffrey's deep corner was headed back into the danger area by Marcus Hall. A routine catch for Postma looked the likeliest outcome, before his own defender superbly prodded the ball past him!

Wolves thought they had pulled a goal back minutes later, but their celebrations were cut short by the linesmans flag. Those that had been cheering ecstatically sat back down and went back to sleep.

A cynical foul by Cameron on Adebola saw him awarded the games' first yellow card.

Stern John set up McSheffrey, who despite being at a very tight angle, almost added a third Coventry goal, while Fulop superbly parried a Wolves effort for a corner. A better ball from McSheffrey just before half-time would have seen Scowcroft with a clear run at goal, but he put his pass to close to the Wolves defence and it was cleared.

The tactics for the second half were tried, tested, and had failed on numerous occasions - but this time they worked! The decision to defend with nine players, and rarely threaten to even cross the halfway line - let alone see if we could force Wolves into conceding another soft goal! - saw our resolute defending, mixed with some abysmal finishing from Wolves, earn us a 2-0 win.

As part of the 4-5-1/9-0-1 system, McSheffrey was moved to the right of midfield, with Adebola moved to the left.

The second half started with a free-kick awarded for a foul on McSheffrey, after the Coventry player had intercepted a stray pass and looked to set off towards the Wolves goal.

A nice one-two between John and McSheffrey saw the latter shoot over the bar after 57 minutes, with only an Osbourne shot (Which resulted in him picking up an injury that will keep him out for the rest of the season), and a long-ball that Adebola just failed to reach being about as close as Coventry got to the Wolves goal in the second half.

Huddlestone and Miller were also booked as Wolves became more and more frustated with their inability to score, though a couple of unopposed runs could have landed Coventry in trouble, while Fulop also made a couple of decent saves - and also showed he isn't afraid to inform his team-mates that they should be doing more!

Whing replaced McSheffrey with 15 minutes left, and in a bid to waste time, John was replaced by Morrell late on (With the Trinidad & Tobago international receiving applause from the home support for his contribution - almost as unlikely an event as Coventry keeping a clean sheet after inviting pressure for 45 minutes!), and Jorgensen replacing Doyle late into injury time.

Morrell's two minute contribution was more worthwhile than some of his recent displays, as he flashed a decent effort just wide of Postma's goal in the dying seconds.