Ropey Ref Wrecks Play-Off Hopes

By CovSid67
March 20 2006

Thanks ref. Victory over Leeds would have put us within six points of sixth place, with Crewe away next, followed by struggling sixth place Preston the week after. Thanks to a dodgy decision that was always on the cards (Predicted by me after 55 minutes), the champagne order has been cancelled.

The first half just about belonged to Coventry City, with the home side carving out the better chances, though Leeds always looked dangerous on the break.

A superb reverse pass from Hutchison early on saw Whing power into the LU penalty area, and his ferocious cross-shot resulted in a scramble on the goal-line.

A slice on the edge of the Leeds penalty area by Kilgallon luckily fell to the same player, and he managed to clear the danger.

A quick free-kick by Hutchison released McSheffrey in the penalty area, but, as he threatened to test Sullivan, the referee ordered the kick to be re-taken. From the re-take, a quality blast from Hutchison was tipped onto the bar by Sullivan.

With 26 minutes gone, Coventry City scored the goal their play deserved. John, Adebola, and McSheffrey all linked up well, with the latter showing fine foot-work in his new white boots(!) to fire past Sullivan. Goal number 50 for the Coventry Kid!

While the atmosphere was decent enough anyway, the goal led to "celebrations" in the home end - interesting to note that the police and stewards continued their crack-down on people daring to stand-up in the home sections, yet never bothered telling the entire away section (With about a dozen exceptions) so sit down at any point during the game.

A fine run from Scowcroft could have brought rewards, but his shot was blocked, then rebounded off himself for a goal-kick.

A Huckerby-esque run from McSheffrey saw him waltz past a number of Leeds defenders, but, with the hard work seemingly done, he then fired agonisingly wide of Sullivan's far post.

Another fine run from Whing saw him clattered by a Leeds defender, with the referee playing the advantage. He also then played the advantage when John was sat on in the penalty area by a Leeds defender.

John was the guilty of trying to be to fancy when a simple pass might have brought rewards, which led to McSheffrey being booked for stopping a Leeds attack which looked threatening.

Words were exchanged between a few Leeds players and the referee as the teams left the pitch at half-time, and, according to those that know such things, the Leeds manager went and had words with the referee at half-time.

Whatever was said worked, as it appeared that the days' match official decided to join the Leeds cause after the break, with the away side getting every decision and more for the first 10 minutes of the second half.

That along with Coventry City inviting pressure by playing to deep had me realising that it was going to be a long second half - as well as predicting, with 55 minutes on the clock, that Leeds would get at least one penalty during the match. And so it proved to be....

Leeds almost scored twice within minutes of the re-start, with on effort being cleared off the line, and Hulse also hitting the bar.

A quality McSheffrey cross from the left saw a fine Scowcroft header superbly saved by Sullivan. Somewhere in this move the match official saw a foul .... though he was possibly the only person in the Arena that did.

The corner routine that had almost worked for Wise and McSheffrey last week, was tried by Hutchison and McSheffrey this, with McSheffrey once again sending an effort goalwards. It came as little surprise to anybody that the referee blew his whistle - though again, nobody could really work out why.

Whing was again clattered by a Leeds defender, though whether or not the official missed this, or chose to play the advantage, only he knows (I'll go for the former), but the ball arrived at the feet of Stern John in acres of space on the left of the Leeds penalty area. The least he should have done was test Sullivan, but he blazed his effort way over the bar.

John was then pulled up for a minor shoulder barge (This referee would surely have given red cards for the shoulder barges by John and Adebola last week!) as he threatened to start a Coventry attack.

Gary Kelly then showed there are some decent people left in football, with three great shows of sportsmanship in almost as many minutes (Consoling Marcus Hall after another poor refereeing decision, shaking McSheffrey's hand as he left the pitch, and kicking the ball out after a Coventry player had cramp).

Impey replaced McSheffrey with just over 10 minutes left (Twice in two games Coventry's biggest threat has been taken off early, and still I have no idea why). Doyle was also replaced soon after, with Thornton coming on.

Whing's only error of the game saw him fail to clear the ball, then raise his hands to stop his head being knocked off by a cross from the left as he tried to make amends - the referee deemed this to be a penalty, despite a lack of appeals from the away side. Fulop looked agonisingly close to saving this from where I was sitting, but Healy's shot just beat him inside his left hand post, "stealing" two points and a potential seventh straight home win for Coventry City.