At this stage of the season, we are usually biting our fingernails profusely as City fight for results to avoid relegation. Ahead of Tuesday night’s clash at home to Lincoln City, supporters shared a sense of anticipation and nerves were rife, but with a place in the play-offs to play for on this occasion. While this one fixture wouldn’t guarantee either side a spot in the top seven, three points would ease the pressure somewhat.
However, as we all know, it isn’t the Coventry City way to make life easy for ourselves. Instead, we mustered up one of the worst defensive performances imaginable to become the masters of our downfall. Conceding in the first minute wasn’t ideal, but nothing could’ve been done about that one as a long kick eventually dropped to Matt Rhead. The bustling forward ended up thundering one into the top corner from range with Lee Burge at full stretch. Fair enough, good strike, move on.
Our response to going a goal down was good, with the Sky Blues keeping possession well and looking to probe an opening. That came on 16 minutes as Jonson Clarke-Harris slipped a low pass into Tom Bayliss who had peeled away from his marker. The 19-year-old then caressed the ball into the corner with a finish of real quality before wheeling away in celebration.
Following the equaliser, it was City who were playing the neater football and looking as if they could gain a foothold. That mattered for nothing though, as they decided to gift Danny Cowley’s men a second goal seven minutes before half-time. Rhead was at the heart of things once more as he outwitted Ryan Haynes to flick the ball into a gaping hole that had opened up between Jordan Willis and Rod McDonald. Ollie Palmer was then presented with a one-on-one opportunity – one which he wouldn’t pass up on.
With the travelling band of supporters still in delirium having watched their side pull ahead, we equalised almost immediately afterwards. Bayliss turned provider to pick out Jordan Shipley in the box, and with a man in close attention, he gave him the slip before placing one past the despairing Ryan Allsop. At that point, all I craved was an element of control to ensure we didn’t go in after the first 45 trailing. It’s safe to say, that didn’t go to plan.
Yet another long ball caused havoc in the City box and we failed to deal with it, with Rhead heading it down into a dangerous area. James Wilson was then denied from close range by Lee Burge, but Palmer was alive to the loose ball and he tapped it home from a few yards out to double his tally.
They then wrapped up the scoring on 67 minutes shortly after Maxime Biamou had what looked like a stonewall penalty appeal waved away by Mike Jones. Lincoln broke away and Rhead crossed to an unmarked Lee Frecklington who steered an effort into the net. Pandemonium amongst the 3,324 Imps fans; despair in the home end.
From that point on, we never looked like getting back into it and Lincoln saw out proceedings with a degree of comfort. Their time wasting frustrated City and it disrupted any rhythm we hoped to piece together, but it was a brilliant lesson in game management. Earlier in the season we were doing that, sitting tight as a unit and denying the opposition any clear openings. We have now conceded 15 goals in our last six league fixtures – an average of 2.5 per game.
I am still perplexed as how we have gone from comfortably the best defensive outfit in the division – and perhaps the Football League – to one that is constantly making fundamental errors. As Mark Robins rightly said, we probably won the football match, but we certainly lost the battle. In this division, you have to win your own duels first and let the pretty stuff do the talking afterwards. I’m sure a few stern words were exchanged in the changing room following the full-time whistle.
Almost every time we have had a chance to cement our position, we have limped to a defeat and in turn, forced the pressure back on ourselves. Our inability to frequently put a thread of results together has cost us all season. You could question the manager’s tactics on Tuesday as he changed a winning team, but in fairness, Bayliss scored and Shipley played well having switched positions. We just simply weren’t strong enough and it was men versus boys.
The positive is that we are now scoring more freely, and that could be crucial if we can somehow arrest this slide in our own defensive third. I am grateful that our fate is still in our hands and that we will dictate where we end up, not other teams. Theoretically, we could finish seventh without picking up another point, but I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say there needs to be a reaction at Cheltenham Town next week.
Three points at Whaddon Road would be enough if Mansfield fail to win away to Yeovil, the side that inflicted our most humiliating defeat of the campaign. Keeping Mohamed Eisa quiet will be a tough task as he looks to make it 25 goals in all competitions this term, but at least he doesn’t have the physical prowess that we seem to buckle against.
It will be an interesting afternoon for sure, with a nervy contingent of traveling City supporters demanding a lot better. Having seen the Robins on two occasions this season through work, I am not sure what to expect from them. They try and play some tidy stuff at times and they possess a fair bit of pace in their front line, but they don’t have much to play for having already secured a mid-table finish. Let’s get the job done please, City.
Play Up Sky Blues.
*Just a quick note to the visiting Lincoln supporters – you were excellent. We often get praised for our following and rightly so, but yours was also brilliant for a Tuesday night game. Best of luck in the play-offs, but not at our expense if we get there!
In Our Coventry Homes 