"That's the worse we have been tonight, especially the second half. We were not there and it cost us the game."

Coventry City v Derby County

Coca Cola Championship

3:00pm 25th October 2008

Ricoh Stadium, Coventry

No that wasn’t Paul Jewell after the Blackpool game; it was Chris Coleman talking about Coventry’s defeat at Burnley.

The Sky Blues only just escaped relegation on the last day of last season. And that was despite doing themselves no favours by losing 4-1 to Charlton. It’s been a rocky road to say the least of it since Coventry fell out of the Premier League.

At the start of the season, Chris Coleman said;” Tactically we need to knuckle down on things defensively and offensively,” and he carried on the same theme after the Burnley defeat by saying; “We have not been finishing the chances and we have not been keeping clean sheets so we can do better.”

The Sky Blues started the season quite well but following a 3-0 reversal at Bristol, seem to have gone into a decline. A recent 4-1 victory over Southampton has been followed by two defeats and they currently lie 17^th.

To be fair to Coventry, they were undone by some bizarre refereeing decisions when they played Wolves last week – Particularly Wolves winning goal. Wolves Striker Sylvan Ebanks-Blake ran out of play during the attack but came back onto the pitch to bundle the ball home after a parried shot.

Coleman was understandably baffled; “the referee says the momentum takes Ebanks-Blake off the pitch, so when he re-enters he is not offside. If he is offside then he is offside - end of story. He comes on behind our defender and nods the ball in the back of the net. If he comes back onto the pitch then he has surely got to come back on in an onside?”

Even Mick McCarthy couldn’t really justify the Referee’s decision and it’s surely up to the referee’s organization to explain it?

At the time of writing, the only injury reported for the Sky Blues is striker Leon McKenzie who is out with a tear in his thigh.

Sky Blue statistics

The Rams

We weren’t very good last Saturday and we were poor for much of the game against Blackpool. Injuries are mounting up and yet - we beat Plymouth and with a bit of luck we might have at least taken a point from Blackpool.

That’s the sign of a team with a bit of fight in them. It’s fair to say that at the start of the season, we would probably have lost both games.

That said there are injuries mounting and there are clear deficiencies in the team that will need to be addressed if we are to progress this year. Some fans say that a season of mid-table obscurity is what we need but teams that try to stand still often end up going backwards.

 One area we are deficient in is centre half. The injury to Martin Albrechtsen and the suspension of Dean Leacock left us reliant on Lewin Nyatanga and Claude Davis. Lewin acquitted himself well in the Plymouth game so many fans were surprised to see him omitted from the team sheet at Blackpool. Most thought that Davis should have made way for Leacock and indeed many fans blame Davis for the goals we conceded at Bloomfield Road. While Davis does seem to charge in and make rash challenges - and does have a propensity to let the ball bounce when he should head it, many of the problems at Blackpool were caused by the midfield giving the ball away in silly positions. Both Paul Green and Miles Addison were guilty of poor passing and Kris Commons and Nacer Barazite struggled to beat even one defender.  

This meant that Hulse and Ellington spent a lot of time chasing shadows and had very little to show in the shots on target column. Ellington in particular looks off the pace and despite his running, is rarely in a position to receive a pass from a colleague. Hulse is simply slow and whether he fears a repeat of the injury he suffered is open to question, however he's not the player he was before his injury.

Mick’s team: Carroll, Connolly, Nyatanga, Leacock, Stewart, Sterjovski, Addison, Green, Commons, Villa, Hulse.

What the Bookies think

The Sky Blues are favourites at 6/5 while the Rams are at 9/5. The draw never seems to be popular with us and again it’s only at 11/5.  All of the Coventry strikers are at 6/1 for the first goal while Rob Hulse is at 7/1.  Kris Commons is at 12/1 which must be worth a flutter after breaking his duck midweek.

Information for travelling fans

Driving: It’s 54miles to Coventry and given that traffic and parking aren’t so good down there, I’d be tempted by the train. Best route is to take the M1 to J21 and then take the M69 to J2 where you join the M6. Leave the M6 at Junction 3. Take the A444 towards the city centre and after about one mile you will see the stadium on your left.

Parking: It goes without saying that you shouldn’t park in the retail park unless you fancy a clamping. There’s little parking to be had close to the stadium though some industrial units etc, do offer parking for £5 in the area. All of the street parking is ‘Residents only’ and the club encourages visitors to use various park and ride schemes where you book in advance.

The railway station is about an hours walk away but you can pick up a bus or taxi straight outside.

Drinking: There are several pubs located on the Longford Rd whit Footballgroundguide.co.uk reporting the JK English Pub as being the most welcoming. You can park there for £4.  The Black Horse between Longford and Exhall is also reported to be popular with away fans.

Mick’s prediction

Can we bounce back from midweek? Both sets of fans will be asking that. I suspect this could be a hard fought draw with neither team taking too many risks with defenders getting forward.

Photo: Action Images

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