Once again we’ve let a side who are way below us in the league look much better than us while we failed to capitalise on a number of good chances we’d created ourselves. The injury to Huggins made it all even worse.
BEFORE
It’s the last home match of the year, which is always a poignant occasion and this year it’s especially so for me due to the recent death of my close friend Arth with whom I’ve watched home matches for over fifty years. It’s of course the first game for new coach Mick Beale so I’m interested in how he’ll be greeted by our fans. Most online views are still against him but I’ll give him time to see how he fares. A new coach often brings a positive response from players and we need that after last Saturday’s disappointment where we again dominated the attacking play without scoring. After doing well last season Coventry are currently nine places, but only six points, below us. This fixture has always had an edge to it since the Jimmy Hill shenanigans back in May 1977 and a minority of Coventry fans have behaved badly at the SoL in recent history. Perhaps they’ll bring the spirit of Christmas with them and behave themselves today... Ellis Simms may well feature for them today and I wish we’d managed to keep him. Apart from anything else he may score today. I’ll be at the game and my match prediction is a 2-1 win for us.
I had a pre-match slurp in Fitzy’s and got the team-news there. There didn’t seem to be any changes in our starting line-up but last Saturday felt like a long time ago and I wasn’t certain. My friends’ match predictions were 3-1, 2-0 and 2-1. I didn’t get to my seat till just before kick-off but could here a lot of applause as Beale was introduced to the crowd.
THE GAME
Simms was starting upfront for them. The opening stages were an end to end tussle and we were awarded a free-kick to the left of their box in the ninth minute that led to the first corner but it came to nothing. We had the best of the attacking for a good while but looked vulnerable when Coventry made a swift break. We had a great chance to go ahead in the twentieth minute when a powerful shot from Clarke was only parried by Collins in goal but Ba, who seemed certain to score, blasted the rebound over the bar from close range. A few minutes later Coventry won their first corner and it took a stop on the line by Patterson and another block to prevent us from going behind.
Hume was booked for a foul on Sakamoto in the twenty-fifth and it led to a free-kick in a vulnerable spot which resulted in another corner. We cleared it but the game continued to ebb and flow and both sides looked like they could get a goal before long. By the half-hour mark our fans were getting very restless with Ba in particular and Ekwah coming in for plenty of stick. Spirits were revived as we won another corner though again it led nowhere. I wondered who we could bring on at half-time to pep things up a bit and I hadn’t realised earlier that Pritchard was out injured but at least Rigg was on the bench. There was a stoppage with about five minutes to the break following a clash of heads between Hume and Sheaf that resulted in the latter being replaced by Eccles. We were sloppy at times and the pace of the game had gone off the boil anyway so all in all there was an air of gloom as the end of the half approached. Four minutes of added time were announced but any joy that might have been gleaned from that was soon dissipated when Coventry went ahead through a Sakamoto shot from the middle of the box. As we shaped up for a Coventry corner O’Nien was booked to add to our misery. As the whistle went there was a lot of booing and no applause. I looked at our list of subs again and found only Aouchiche and Rigg that might bring us some relief. As the rain starting wafting up to the back of the east stand I hoped for better things…
We started brightly and won a corner in the first minute following a great nutmeg from Roberts. As to the result of the corner, a bloke behind me intoned, “Pathetic.” However, Collins was soon forced into a one-handed save and he didn’t get a clean hold on a Ba cross just afterwards. He did do well to get down to a low Clarke shot and that got our fans going at last. We were denied a penalty claim and soon had another good attempt but, as ever, nobody was there to apply the killer touch. It was our best attacking period at any rate. Coventry were playing for time and earning the wrath of our fans, who were in good voice otherwise. On the hour we were awarded a free-kick right near the left angle of their box and Clarke’s effort wasn’t too wide of the right post. Bidwell was yellow-carded for a foul on Roberts who’d been tugged all over the place. It was time for Beale to make his first substitutions for us but nothing was stirring on the bench. We won another corner when an on-target Roberts’ shot was deflected out but next thing Coventry were racing up the other end and O’Hare put them 2-0 ahead.
I could see us getting one back but not two. In the seventieth minute Patterson spilled a low cross from the left and it was 0-3 as Palmer slotted home. It was the cue for many ‘fans’ to get up and go home. In the seventy-first minute we finally made two changes with Mayenda and Aouchiche coming on for Ekwah and Ba but it was too little too late. Aouchiche scooped a good chance over the bar and that prompted a lot more folks to leave their seats. The Coventry fans were having a great time of course and were chanting, “Can we play you every week?” To put the icing on the cake of a grim afternoon Huggins went down with what immediately looked like a serious injury and after a few minutes he was stretchered off. Seelt came on to replace him. With five minutes to go the stadium was more than half-empty. Of course I would’ve liked a consolation goal or two but as seven minutes of stoppage-time were announced I was rather more afraid that Coventry might get a fourth. It ended 0-3, to much booing from the remaining fans.
