Six More Points For Us, Three More Goals For Wise!

By CovSid67
February 7 2006

Two more games, six more points, and suddenly we're looking up at those occupying play-off places, rather than down at those fighting relegation! But this habit of not joining in until the second half doesn't half make for a nervy first 45 minutes!

Games against Hull and Brighton are games we would once have lost (In fact we did lose to Hull earlier this season!), but the introduction of two players to the squad some would say are past their best (Hutchison and Wise) seems to have transformed the side.

Rumour has it Dennis Wise might be off to take up a managers job somewhere, and if he does go, he will be sorely missed - four goals in three games (Not to mention a disallowed goal versus Hull, and a couple of effort superbly saved against Brighton!) is a superb strike rate for a forward, never mind a midfield player! Maybe if Michael Owen isn't fit to go to Germany this summer.....!

He picked up the almost obligtory booking against Hull - not to mention a Goal Of The Season contender! - but amazingly managed to go for 90 minutes without getting any colour card against Brighton!

Being on the late shift at work, and with no access to a radio, I was forced to rely on semaphor to get any idea of how the game versus Hull was going - with proper briefings during break-times!

There's nothing like finding your team is 1-0 down to dampen the enthusiasm of a place of work, and nothing like hearing you've scored twice to take the lead, then won, to lift spirits again! And there's nothing like your wife not understanding simple instructions, and not taping the goals on the news the next day, to really urinate you off again....

Hats off to those that made the long trek to Hull on a cold Tuesday evening anyway....

Unsurprisingly, not all of the 30,000 that turned up versus Middlesboro came back for the visit of Brighton (Possibly as a few thousand of them were Boro fans! Though having witnessed their own side get hammered 4-0 at home by Aston Villa, they might have been better off re-visiting our fine Arena instead!), though I'm sure they would have if the ticket price had been £15 again .... NOT!

The 20,500+ that bothered saw Coventry's fine run of form continue, and even the early loss of McSheffrey - chief tormentor of Middlesboro a week before - couldn't stop the Sky Blue charge up the table (Top half - wow!), with his replacement, Andy Morrell, finally enjoying a decent game.

There were a fair few more Bighton supporters than expected in the away section - though that might have been down to the fact their first allocation of tickets was stolen!

Frutos saw an early effort well saved by Fulop, and Brighton enjoyed a fair few chances in the opening minutes, before the home side actually woke up and realised they were supposed to be playing too....

When they did, John fed Scowcroft on the right, with his decent cross into the box missed by all. Scowcroft then returned the favour by setting up John, whose unconvincing fall in the area didn't result in a penalty.

A bustling Adebola run should have resulted in a shot on goal at least for Wise, who was in acres of space on the left, but the pass that every other person in the ground would have played never materialised.

A sloppy pass in midfield saw Brighton break, and another fine save from Fulop denied Brighton a goal.

The action on the pitch was ignored for a while, with supporters turning to watch stewards trying to remove a Coventry supporter from the ground. It wasn't until eight of them joined in the action - two on each arm, two on each leg! - that said person was "persuaded" to leave.

A great interception by Whing stopped another Brighton attack, before McSheffrey left the pitch (Due to illness) to be replaced by Morrell. With the first half-hour not seeing Coventry at their convincing best, one (Me!) could have been forgiven for thinking this would have a negative effect on the team....

Another Fulop save, from Frutos again, was followed by the best chance of the match for Coventry. Following good work from Scowcroft and Adebola, a scramble in the six yard box saw a Stern John effort blocked almost on the line.

Good work from Adebola was again spoiled by a poor end result, and a minute later a superb pass to Doyle, in acres of space out on the left, was wasted thanks to a poor first touch, which saw the ball end up going out for a throw-in. Luckily a Brighton player got the last touch, and from the throw-in, Hall raced down the wing, put in a superb cross, and the potential Coventry Legend that is Dennis Wise headed past Henderson in the Brighton goal.

Half-time Hot-Shots was re-called (Unsurprisingly at half-time) - this time without the annoying compere. And, as suggested by somebody in the Evening Telegraph on Thursday (Hello me!), there were far more children taking part, children who will hopefully never forget the day they trod the Arena pitch, and who will remain with Coventry City forever. Hats off to "Mr. Everything And Everywhere" Paul Fletcher, who it seems is doing everything possible to keep Coventry supporters happy....

Coventry started the second half far more convincingly than they had started the first, with a fine shot from Doyle smothered at the near post by Henderson early on.

Andy Morrell finally contributed to the Coventry cause, with a good run, followed by a curled effort into the penalty area. The ball arrived at the feet of John, who, instead of turning and shooting first time, or trying a back-heeled effort, dwelt on the ball and saw his effort cleared. The ball came to Dennis Wise, who also saw his effort blocked.

A quality Coventry move saw Morrell pass to Whing, whose over-lapping run left Brighton's left-back trailing in his wake, with his shot being parried by the keeper, but only as far as Dennis Wise, who made the score-line 2-0.

With just over 20 minutes left, Adebola was replaced by Hutchinson.

Henderson was the star of the show for the last 20 minutes, keeping out a quality Scowcroft attempt, and catching a John header just under his own crossbar, amongst other Coventry efforts.

Wise was replaced by Impey with minutes left on the clock, and received generous applause for his contribution!

Well-known hatchet man Stern John picked up a booking for diving in the last minute of the match (Something I thought looked like the correct decision, but was told by those nearer the action that Uriah Rennie had got it wrong - unbelievably one of the few things the usually awful referee did get wrong on the day), his fifth of the season, meaning he will miss the match against Watford. Bummer.