Super Sixth Championship Home Win On The Trot!

By CovSid67
March 12 2006

Due to 'Man Flu', this site has been neglected this week (Not that it's usually inundated with articles anyway) - which is why there is no match report for the game against Southampton last weekend. But there is one following yet another victory at the Arena!

By now you will have read elsewhere that Coventry City were very unlucky not to come away from St. Mary's with all three points, and that they even managed one was down to a bit of gamesmanship from Don Hutchinson! His winning, and expert dispatching of, an 88th minute penalty, was small reward for a display that deserved more.

Micky Adams attempts at amateur psychology might not have brought us the victory we had hoped for, but the result was certainly better than those recorded against Watford and Plymouth.

Onto the match against second in the table, but slip sliding gently out of an automatic play-off spot, Sheffield United (Watched by 23,506).

With emergency supplies of tissues shipped in from outside the area, and all spirits drunk this week purely medicinal purposes - no enjoyment at all! - I ignored my illness to take my place at the Arena. Mummies brave little soldier.

Sheffield United opted to have no substitute keeper on the bench, choosing three strikers in Dyer, Kabba (Whose Oscar winning display helped them to the points in the reverse fixture earlier in the season), and Horsfield. New signing Lucketti was also amongst the five.

Before kick-off, a minutes silence for the sadly deceased Denise McAllister was impeccably observed by boths sets of supporters.

As early as the second minute Coventry City should have been ahead, but Adebola, given the freedom of the Sheffield half, allowed three United defenders to catch him, and his efforts didn't even result in a corner.

With four minutes gone, the re-called Gary McSheffrey - in his new, gleaming white boots! - gave the home side the lead, latching onto a poor header from Morgan to lob Kenny. A proper poachers goal.

A move some minutes later saw Stern John climbed on by a Sheffield United defender, which was unbelievably missed/ignored by the referee. The ball arrived back in the area after being cleared, with John's cross just failing to be back-heeled in by McSheffrey.

A quality succession of Coventry passes (One-touch football) saw one poor over-hit effort test Hall's ability to keep the ball in, and, having managed to, he sent in a superb cross which Adebola expertly fired home. 2-0, and silence in the away end!

It could have been 3-0 after a definite training ground move saw Wise's corner, and McSheffrey's first time shot, almost catch Kenny out, with the effort saved just under the bar (At this point it did become about 5-1 to the home side in ejections!).

A minute later and it was Adebola's turn to threaten, with his powerful run along the touchline resulting in a corner.

A clear ball-to-hand by Whing saw SU's players desperately appealing for a penalty, though for one of the very few times during this match, the referee got it right! (Sheffield United seemed to get just about every 50-50 decision). Another abject display from the man in the middle....

Stern John finally managed to beat the United offside trap AND linesmans flag (Which had even the most placid of supporters questioning his parentage with some poor decisions throughout), and his superb shot was pushed round the post by Kenny.

It wasn't quite one-way traffic, but it wasn't far off .... though you wouldn't have thought so had you watched 'The Championship' highlights this morning. When the away side did attack, they found Coventry's defence in fine form.

A quality Scowcroft pass, followed by a great cross from Hall, should have brought rewards, but only resulted in a corner. The corner was taken between Wise and Doyle, and was a mess - and led to Wise picking up a yellow card that will see him miss the next two games. Doyle's poor pass left Wise with to much to do, and he was injured reaching to get a ball (And catching a player) far to cheaply given away. As per usual, fat bloater Paddy Kenny was the first to get involved, though the incident was brought under control fairly quickly.

Wise will struggle to win The Championship's 'Player Of The Month' again if he misses two games....

Minutes before half-time a superb piece of footwork from McSheffrey left the SU left-back looking foolish on the touchline, and as he wondered where his opponent had gone, McSheffrey's surge into the area saw a fine shot turned round the post by Kenny.

The half-time interval saw the announcement that Jim Twynham was leaving his job as .... whatever he does.

A Sheffield United hand-ball was missed by the referee, and led to an effort that went just wide of Fulop's right-hand post. With Wise already booked and set to miss two matches, the also possibly soon to be suspended Michael Doyle's decision to chase the referee and moan seemed rather foolish.

The not-so-much-maligned-anymore Stern John, previously moaned at for his inability to battle, helped chase a Sheffield United corner all the way back to Kenny in his own goal area after 52 minutes!

Coventry City finally got a hand-ball decision after 55 minutes of the match, with this receiving almost as much applause as either of the goals.

More McSheffrey trickery left Akinbiyi on his backside and looking stupid, and soon after he became the second United player to be replaced (With Flitcroft being replaced by Kozluk at half-time), in a swap for Kabba. Rumour has it (And pictures too!) that Akinbiyi was spotted throwing his dummy out of his pram in the Arena car park later on.

Fulop's decision to not get the ball back into play as fast as he could seemed to aggravate some away supporters, who seem to have forgotten that in seasons past Kenny has been responsible for losing a fair portion of the 90 minutes(+) playing time - Fulop was later booked for this (The same referee would surely have red carded Kenny in the last few fixtures between the two clubs then?).

A blatant foul in the area on Adebola looked to have resulted in a penalty (With the referee seemingly pointing to the spot), but with SU not stopping, the referee allowed play to continue. After 70 minutes a great ball out to Whing then saw Wise bundled over in the area, and it came as no surprise to anybody that the referee ignored this penalty appeal too.

With the news that there were only a few pies left in the Arena, Shipperly was replaced by Horsfield after 73 minutes (Who was possibly responsible for the fact there were only a few pies left in the Arena). McSheffrey was replaced by Hutchison two minutes later.

United did manage a couple of efforts in the second half, with one effort going wide of the far post, and one goal-mouth scramble being cleared by the Coventry defence. It would have been more than they deserved.

A shocking yellow card for Adebola, possibly for persistently wanting to win the ball fairly, might or might not mean he is also banned for the Leeds match - this depends on which news source you read! Bizarrely, the referee failed to even give a free kick on two occasions where the ball was left behind and shoulder barges resulted in players hitting the deck!

The inability to understand the offside rule by the linesman denied Coventry City a few more late efforts at goal, though Coventry City's impressive run of form at the Arena was never really under threat from a United side surely hoping that form continues for at least one more week!

John was replaced by Morrell with five minutes left, and once again received deserved applause from the home fans, while Wise was replaced with seconds on the clock too - with no Andy Impey to give a 30 second cameo to, Thornton came on instead.

Victory over any side is always welcome, but over a Neil Warnock side slightly more so, as it means he has probably failed to referee the match (Though so did the referee if truth be told), with his questionable tactics (As in asking Akinbiyi a week before why he didn't dive) frequently winding up opposition fans having also failed.

Note: Such is the severity of this illness that I didn't even go for the post-match beer today....