LFL: COV

Talk about leaving it to the last minute; this was literally the last second. We started okay but gradually Coventry took over and things were looking grim for a long while. I certainly didn’t fancy our chances of winning on penalties. Still, we battled on and Ballard’s goal will live on as one of the most memorable ever at the Stadium of Light. All’s well that ends well!

BEFORE

I'd say I feel a bit more nervous about this leg than I did about Friday's but I still think that we'll prevail. I’m expecting that we’ll field the same side that started in the first leg but this time we also have the option of bringing on Mundle from the bench. I hope we don’t need to. We know that we can’t sit back and try to defend our slender lead so we need to attack from the off and get an early goal which would give Coventry a real mountain to climb. This evening the fans really must play their part and make the stadium a frightening place for the opposition while lifting our team. I think that’s going to happen. I’ll be at the game in my usual seat in the Upper East Stand and am really looking forward to it. Match prediction 2-1 to us.

I stopped for a pint in Fitzy’s alias the Canny Lad en route to the stadium and as we crossed the bridge around 7 o’clock it was already crowded. Maybe a lot of fans were concerned like me that there might be problems getting through the turnstiles but I’m sure many also wanted to be there to gee the players up when they came out to warm up. As it turned out I got through the turnstile without any problem and I was in my seat at 7.15. I saw that the LED advert displays had indeed been moved much closer to the edge of the pitch to restrict Coventry’s long-throws. The players were warmly greeted when they emerged and the Coventry players were loudly booed. As for the team-news, we were fielding the same side as in the first leg and the only change among the subs was that Mundle was in for Seelt. There was a ceremony to honour Monty as the West Stand has now been named after him. Flags had been left at random among the seats for us to wave as the teams emerged and in addition to a red and white display in the Roker End, a huge Black Cat curtain was lowered from the top of the stand. What with shooting flames from boxes around the pitch, the usual loud music booming out and very loud chanting from our fans it was all very rousing. Then we had to get on with the match.

THE MATCH

We had much the better of the opening ten minutes but two minutes later as we burst forward Isidor received a yellow card for diving and that was a bit of a worry. We were passing the ball around accurately and the atmosphere continued to be great with our fans really playing their part. The first on-target shot of the game came in the seventeenth but Patto manged to hold Mason-Clark’s shot without difficulty. Coventry won the first corner of the game and proceeded to tot up considerably more than we managed. By the twentieth minute they’d started to press forward a lot more. Just after that though Mayenda made his presence felt for the first time but after one of his typical penetrating runs, his shot was blocked. Isidor was injured while trying to head in a follow-up and there was a bit of handbags but no more cards were shown. A couple of minutes later Rudoni went in referee Andy Madley’s book for a bad foul.

Hume was having a great game and was looking assured. Sakamoto, who’d looked impressive in Friday’s game, was starting to display his trickiness down our left. Things were getting edgy and Sheaf soon became the second Coventry player to be booked. After half an hour I was pretty happy all in all but I was ticking away the minutes and feeling edgy. In the closing ten minutes of the half Mayenda had a couple of chances and at the other end Sakamoto looped a shot over the bar and Rudoni also shot over from very close range. He also collided with Patto and the latter was down injured for a couple of minutes before being able to carry on. Coventry had a good finish to the half, winning another corner but they didn’t seriously threaten and it remained goalless as the half-time whistle went to warm applause all around me.

During the break Jermain Defoe came on to do the draw and was very warmly received. I noticed that the pitch was received a very generous amount of watering and wondered whether this was some kind of tactic.

If we’d held our own in the first half the same can’t be said about the second as Coventry started off in attacking mode and barely let up. For the first ten minutes they pressed us back winning corners and a couple of free-kicks in dangerous spots. We managed to stem the tide and won our first corner in the fifty-fifth. We continued to enjoy a brief purple patch but just before the hour-mark Roberts finished very poorly with a dribbly off-target shot after a great move down our left. He wasn’t being very effective at all. Coventry won another couple of corners and then we managed to win two in a row. The second of them ended with some argy-bargy between Jobe and Ben Wilson in the goal and both of them were booked while Coventry were awarded a goal-kick, which didn’t go down well with us.

The time had started to go quickly and with twenty minutes left I was seriously wondering if we could hold out as Sakamoto continued to run rings around us down their right. I didn’t have to wait very long to find out as in the seventy-sixth Mason-Clark hit home from close range following a pass from Van Ewijk. The Coventry fans had been making a good racket throughout but our fans had largely drowned them out but they ruled the roost for a short while before the home crowd rallied again. Le Fee was yellow-carded and I suspected he wouldn’t be the last. The crowd was announced (46, 530) and for once I thought it was an accurate reflection of those in attendance. We’d allowed Coventry to push us back for too long and it was taking us far too long to counter-attack with too many sideways and backwards passes. In the eighty-third we made our first change, replacing Isidor with Rigg. Coventry finished the stronger as extra-time loomed and in the third minute of added-time a header went just wide. There was a fair bit of applause as the whistle went.

In the opening stages of the first half of extra-time Coventry continued to press us back and a number of fans around me were getting irate. The overall mood perked up in the ninety-fifth when Mundle made his appearance to much applause. He replaced Roberts and it was a good change in my opinion. We managed a couple of attacks that came to nothing while Coventry won another corner and a couple of free-kicks.

At half-time I was feeling pretty gloomy as Coventry looked the likelier side to score and if they didn’t, the prospect of penalties was hardly comforting. We did better in the second period as Rigg and Mundle had given us some spark at last. As the final whistle loomed we made another switch, replacing Cirkin with Hjelde, no doubt with an eye to penalties. Two minutes of added time were announced and this received a roar form our fans, who’d kept up great support throughout.

The final seconds were ticking away when we won a corner on our left. Le Fee took it and next thing Ballard came storming in like a raging elephant and headed it powerfully into the net at the near post.

The place went completely doolally and when the game soon came to an end, the celebrations continued for a good while with none of us being in a hurry to leave. The Coventry fans, who’d supported their side commendably throughout, quickly departed to leave us to our songs and celebrations. “Que sera, sera… we’re going to Wembley” was loudly echoed around the stadium. Unfortunately a number of fans got on to the pitch to enjoy their own sliding on their knees celebrations and they had to be herded off before the team could do a circuit and receive our applause.