Coventry City v Scunthorpe United
The Ricoh Arena
Coca-Cola Championship - Saturday, February 27, 2010
Subscribers to The Iron Player can hear live match commentary
FULL-TIME
Coventry City 2 Scunthorpe United 1
Scunthorpe fail to take anything off Coventry, despite been awarded a penalty with the score at 1-1 and playing against ten men for about half an hour. As a fan, I feel pretty despondent right now. All things considered, today's game wasn't just a chace to get one point - it unfolded into a great chance to get three. United have to foget about this though, and look forwards. There's no point dwelling on what could have been; and they can still manafacture their own destinty in this league.
SECOND-HALF
93 Minutes: Baker runs into Byrne, and wins free-kick. Byrne's booked. I thought he already had been. It must have been someone else earlier! Yes, it was actually Sparrow who was booked earlier I'm now informed, in what was certainly a case of mistaken identity by the referee.
92 Minutes: Wright switches the ball across field for Garry Thompson. He's in space. He's offside.
90 Minutes: Five minutes are added. COME ON SCUNTHORPE! I really do have a feeling that today could turn out to be pivotal in the context of this season.
87 Minutes: Thompson absolutely wallops an effort at goal, which finds its way into the net from range. It got a deflection on its way though, and as a result, was offside - so United are still behind.
86 MInutes: SUB: Morrison, who has been dangerous, is replaced by Freddy Eastwood ... I remember the days when Hayes and Eastwood were vying for the League 2 Golden Boot.
82 Minutes: SUB: Stead off for Gary Deegan for the home team.
81 Minutes: GOAL! One down; one or two to go. Grant McCann scores it from in the midst of a scuffle, and it's greeted with a barely audiable cheer from the away fans.
Coventry City 2 Scunthorpe United 1
80 Minutes: Right, here's my assessment of the game heading into the last ten minutes: United have now moved into control, and need to get a goal pretty soon. The time doesn't seem to be moving too quickly, and that's a positive. Coventry are not dead and buried entirely though, and do still look like they could have a third goal in them. The home team also have all of their changes left to make, and as a result, have about three-minutes worth of time to waste.
76 Minutes: Hayes chips a ball into the area (there's nobody waiting there though) after good probing work from Marcus Williams on the flank sent the ball his way.
75 Minutes: Nigel Adkins is in conversation with the referee's assistant. He looks to be complaining about something, but I'm not sure what.
74 Minutes: United win a corner that Grant McCann swings in towards the near post. David Mirfin ghosts in there to meet it, but he arrows his header up and over. Realistically, that was a good chance.
72 Minutes: Clingan nearly doubles his tally for the day when he fires into Joe Murphy from around twelve-yards. Still Coventry are making the better chances.
70 Minutes: SUB: McCann for Sparrow. His first contribution is to hammer a free-kick into the wall.
67 Minutes: "We've only got ten men" sing the Coventy fans. That was inevitable really. Come on Scunthorpe! I think we all know that a defeat to ten-man Coventry isn't the sort of result that will keep United in this league.
66 Minutes: GOAL! Byrne fouls on the edge of the area, and is booked. Clingan stands over the free-kick which results, and duly swings it around the wall and neatly into the top-corner. Game over.
Coventry City 2 Scunthorpe United 0
65 Minutes: Mirfin does well to work the ball to Hayes, after appearing to take a touch too much. Hayes then tries to find Sparrow, but his pass is way off-target.
64 Minutes: SUBS: McDermott and Garry Thompson replace Woolford and Togwell. Clearly Nigel Adkins sees this as a good opportunity too now.
63 Minutes: Coventry are still doing the attacking. This really is a chance for United to get three points now, even after the suffering the blow that stemmed from missing the penalty.
59 Minutes: MISS: Hooper misses the penalty. On-target, but Westwood guesses right, and then reaps the praise which the crowd and his players send his way.
58 Minutes: SENDING-OFF: United's retaliation is prompt. A Coventry player brings down Hooper in the area, and after consulting with his linesman the referee gives a penalty and sends Leon Barnett, who fouled Hooper, off.
55 Minutes: GOAL! Really, United can have no complaints: this goal is only a small marker of Coventry's dominance, and the only surprising thing really is how long it's taken to come. John Stead, a largely anonymous player today chalks the goal onto the board. On the edge of the area he's given the ball, from where he gets it out of his body and buries it past Murphy - into the far corner of the net.
Coventry City 1 Scunthorpe United 0
50 Minutes: Scunthorpe win a free-kick, which Josh Wright sends over the bar - much to the delight of the home fans. I'm surprised that Wright hasn't had a go from more free-kicks this year actually. I guess the fact that usually McCann and O'Connor are on the pitch doesn't exactly boost the ratio of ones he gets to take though.
45 Minutes: Coventry attack in the same way as they did for much of the first-half soon after the re-start - encouragingly but without an end product. Scunthorpe then take their turn to attack, and after they've broken, Gary Hooper is brought down in the area. The referee doesn't give a penalty - which Nigel Adkins, the visiting players and supporters, all vent their frustration at.
HALF-TIME
Coventry City 0 Scunthorpe United 0
As the first-half highlights come on over the big screen, I retire back inside to the Ricoh Arena's press room for a while, to see if there's any food, or at least drink, on offer (there is - tea; but no new food). The half-time score is 0-0 - a score Scunny will be happy with: they've been out of this game generally, but are still in with a shot at getting three points.
During the break, Coventry run a competition, which is based on a silly yet funny idea. Basically, the idea is that they put a number up on the screen, and if that number corresponds to the number of the seat you're sat in, and you're in the randomly picked Tesco Stand, then you wave, scream and shout (generally make a fool of yourself), and the first person doing so, whom the stadium announcer notices, wins a signed football shirt.
ATT: 16,197 (approx. 400 away)
FIRST-HALF
46 Minutes: A Woolford header draws a series of 'oohs' from the crowd. That'll be the last chance of the first half.
44 Minutes: Cliff Byrne chips the ball to Gary Hooper, and with his head, he tries to clip it back for Matt Sparrow. Sparrow's run is at the wrong angle though, and despite the positive intentions of it, the move reaps no reward in terms of goals.
43 Minutes: Kieren Westwood is in possession at the moment - which seems like something of a novelty to be honest!
38 Minutes: More dangerous chances for Coventry - too many to write about in-fact. I'll tell you about their best one. Carl Baker slipped down the wing, paused, and sent a cross across the box. Stead was there, but he somehow failed to connect with it in one of those situations where he only needed a faint touch to score.
35 Minutes: I actually cannot believe that Coventry have not scored yet. They're ripping Scunny to shreads at the moment, and saw an effort go perilously close to going in a few seconds ago, when the ball was turned coyly over Murphy, but somehow managed to avoid seeking the back of the net.
34 Minutes: A very nice chance is made by Sam Togwell. He bounds into the area, and side-foots a shot along the floor and wide. He had about three players around him mind you, so that wasn't bad at all. Plus, it silenced the ground temporarily.
32 Minutes: After toying with the United defence in the box - safe in the knowledge that they won't touch him through fear of giving away a penalty - Clinton Morrison lays off Carl Baker, who lofts the ball over Murphy's net. Thank goodness the home side cannot shoot at the moment.
29 Minutes: Murphy tips a spectacular effort over which Aron Gunnarsson had sent his way, giving Coventry a corner. It's cleared, but Coventry soon re-group and when Gunnarsson breaks again, United are fortunate that he drags a poor shot wide when totally unmarked.
26 Minutes: A mistake from James McPake gives possession to Scunthorpe, and after a lovely flowing move, he is nearly punished in the harshest way possible by the away side. The ball is sprayed around between Woolford, Hayes and Togwell in midfield - before Hooper's has a chance - but sees his shot cannon back off a defender.
22 Minutes: The best move that today's game has produced is put together by Coventry City - and their manager, Chris Coleman, will be upset that the man who got a chance as a result of it, Sammy Clingan, could only rifle his eighteen-yard effort over the bar. Michael McIndoes started the move on the wing, before playing it into the box for John Stead, who swung to find Clingan.
19 Minutes: Neither team is in complete control. Scunthorpe are in this, even if Coventry have had the marginally better chances so far. In fact, I wouldn't be at all shocked if United grab a goal soon.
18 Minutes: A clipped and slightly acrobatic effort from Clinton Morrison ascends over the bar from about twelve yards as the United defence and goalkeeper look on gratefully.
14 Minutes: After he'd crept into the area under pressure, Kieren Westwood dispelled any hope that United had of taking the lead by collecting the ball from at the feet of Gary Hooper.
12 Minutes: The home team win a free-kick in the middle of the pitch, and Kieren Westwood strides forwards to take it. He's jovially encouraged to shoot by the crowd - but funnily enough, does so! Well, he clips the ball into the area, and as it's going on-target (weakly) and Murphy is the first person to touch it after Westwood does, I count it as a shot! Murphy saves it eventually - if you're wondering how the situation concludes.
8 Minutes: In the main, the ball has found itself caught up in the middle of the park during these early stages of today's game. As a result, I've found nothing worth writing about in these opening eight minutes. Coventry are in possession as I type, and go on to win a corner. There we have it, the first 'event' of the game ... it comes to nothing.
1 Minute: Paul Hayes chases the ball all the way back to Kieren Westwood shortly after kick-off as United try to force an early error.
PRE-MATCH
14:59: The stadium announcer informs me (or the crowd, rather) that John Stead is making his home debut today. Is it just me, or is he a well-travelled player? I wonder how he'll do here. A song on the tannoy then makes me chuckle a little. "United or Chelsea" it goes, followed by something like 'we won't be defeated, they won't beat us'. Well, that was back in the day, when Coventry were playing those sorts of teams regullarly! That song seems a little out of date!
14:57: As I mentioned before, the Ricoh Arena is only half-full today. It's a massive stadium though - very similar to Leicester's Walkers Stadium actually. In fact, that's also found in the Midlands - just down the road - and was the last place United visited in their travels. Let's hope there's no repeat of that scoreline today.
14:55: Five minutes to go until kick-off. There's a team of young cheerleaders on the pitch, flaunting it to very upbeat dance music and trying to entice the half-empty stadium into some sort of voice. An interview with Chris Coleman then plays over the big screen, in which the Coventry manager revelas that he wants to take "three points" today.
TEAM NEWS
United make one change from the team that was held by Ipswich on Tuesday night, by replacing Garry Thompson with Josh Wright. Michael O'Connor is still suspended; and Rob Jones is still out with a nose injury. The likes of Grant McCann and Jonathan Forte continue on the bench. The opposition, Coventry, have a very strong squad in terms of personnel, I have to say. It just seems that they don't combine together to make a great team - they're more of a group of individuals.
COV: Westwood, Wright (c), Clingan, McPake, Stead, Morrison, Cranie, Gunnarsson, Baker, McIndoe, Barnett. SUBS: Konstantopoulos, Eastwood, Deegan, Hussey, Sears, Turner, Grandison.
SCUN: Murphy, Williams, Byrne (c), Sparrow, Hayes, Hooper, Mirfin, Woolford, J. Wright, Raynes. SUBS: Lillis, Milne, McCann, Thompson, Forte, McDermott, Canavan.
PREAMBLE
Coventry have never beaten Scunthorpe in the league. They have beaten us 7-0 in a cup once though, back in 1934. Gary Hooper's goal secured a narrow victory for the Iron over the Sky Blues in-front of the Sky cameras in the meeting between the two teams back in December; and today both teams know that a result would boost their confidence and credentials considerably. Duly, this really is one of those that appears to have 'draw' written all over it.
