A day to forget for City…

I thought April Fool’s Day was on Sunday? Everybody knows that you can’t really predict how things will go in Sky Bet League Two, but it’s safe to say that City were expected to see off Yeovil Town on home soil. So, when I discovered that we had lost, I was understandably frustrated. However, when I heard the scoreline, it compounded my misery even more so as I attempted to fathom how we had conceded SIX times.

Defensively, the Sky Blues have looked solid all season. Given that fact, you have to believe that it was a one-off and we won’t see another match plagued with a catalogue of errors, but it will depend on what this result does to confidence. We are now almost out of the automatic promotion hunt, but we must not dwell on what was quite frankly an embarrassing afternoon – the less said about it, the better.

When we travel to Notts County on Saturday, the players have got to rectify things with three points in front of around 4,000 members of the Sky Blue Army. They know they’re better than Monday’s meltdown and so do we, but the time for talking has stopped. There are now just six games to go and we have to make them count. It would be typical Coventry City for us to go to Meadow Lane and come away with a positive result, similarly to Luton away earlier in the season.

Supporting this football club plays havoc with your emotions, that’s for sure. This time last year we were basking in the Wembley sunshine and celebrating with a few deserved beverages. As a fan base, we must hold onto that day and use it for inspiration. We weren’t expecting to lift that trophy, but we did. Football is a funny old game, and this defeat doesn’t signal an end to our campaign just yet.

As Mark Robins said post-match, it’s imperative that we don’t let one awful day shadow over us. Of course, it ramps the pressure up even more so ahead of the weekend, but what’s done is done. A few days on the training ground and some harsh exchanging of words will do us good. I’m still confident that we can at least finish in the top seven, so let’s keep backing the team and see where it takes us.

We are all desperate to see City finish the season strongly with some success to go with it, and I’m sure the players are just as disappointed as we are with Monday’s shenanigans. Fingers crossed that provides motivation and we can get back on track. It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters. Here’s hoping for a strong one!

Play up Sky Blues.

Biamou strikes to secure the Sky Blues a point at Newport

Newport isn’t the easiest place to go considering they have only lost three times at Rodney Parade all season, with none of those defeats coming against top 10 sides. So, coming from behind to pick up a point isn’t too bad at all and it keeps us inside of the top seven and within reach of the automatic promotion spots.

With the Good Friday fixtures pitting most of the top sides against each other in Sky Bet League Two, it was imperative that we didn’t lose too much ground. A victory would have certainly aided our cause and closed the gap between ourselves and third place, but the draw could be an important one in the grand scheme of things.

As the game entered the final stages and the Sky Blue Army continued to get soaked in the uncovered away end, it seemed as if our unbeaten run was about to come to a halt. Step up, Maxime Biamou. The Frenchman has found game time limited over recent weeks due to the emergence of Jonson Clarke-Harris, but his 79th-minute volley – only his second league goal of the season – could prove key come May.

We rode our luck in the first half on several occasions, but you need a bit of good fortune if you are going to be successful. Padraig Amond had one cleared off the line before heading against the woodwork, but the powerful forward was unable to prevent his goalless spell extending to 10 games.

The hard-earned point means City are now seven games unbeaten going into Monday’s clash at home to Yeovil Town, a side who will be looking to cause an upset to ensure their own safety in the division. Their fixture at home to Forest Green Rovers was postponed on Friday, so they will also head to the Ricoh with fresher legs than the Sky Blues.

With a few of the teams in and around us playing each other again, we need to build on the result at Newport with victory on home soil. Our home record is the fourth best in the division and we need to maintain that during the run-in, particularly with some tricky away clashes coming up over the next few weeks. The Ricoh has to remain a fortress and we need to stick behind Mark Robins and the lads.

Taking the injuries we have suffered into account – most notably the ones to Jodi Jones and Tony Andreu – we have done well to keep ourselves in the hunt. I still think that we are in a strong position and there will be plenty of twists and turns between now and the final encounter of the campaign. This point just keeps us moving in the right direction, but given how tight it is around us, we can’t rest on our laurels.

Play Up Sky Blues.

 

Images courtesy of @SBA_HaA