By Andy Munro.
Like most Blues fans, I hoped for a fluent performance and at least a two goal win. Dream on…. In fairness that was naïve, given the way football ebbs and flows, with Coventry hurting from two defeats, managed by an ex-Wimbledon hard man and it being a local derby to boot.
I felt the crowd was a decent size given the circumstances and certainly vociferous, at least at the start of the match and particularly in the second half when Blues livened up. However there was a sense of initial disappointment when the team was announced with only one up front and Redmond not even on the bench – was this the ghost of McLeish’s past hanging over Stans? In fairness, with Marlon King, Cameron Jerome and sicknote Ziggy unavailable it was a difficult one for Chris H and both Chris Wood and Rooney are still raw so probably wouldn’t make an ideal combo up front.
After an initially bright start, we faded to give Coventry the upper hand, probably as they had managed to bottle up the wings knowing that’s where the danger lay and knowing that without a Craig Gardner-type box to box player to support the lone striker, there was little threat down the middle.
Myhill had to pull off a couple of saves but for some reason, perhaps unfairly, I remain to be convinced by him – he certainly doesn’t command his area or the defence but maybe I’ve been spoilt by Messrs Hart and Foster. Beausejour blew a bit hot and cold not helped by the Ridge behind him who, at times, looked as if he would rather be somewhere else.
Up top, Woods looked the raw rookie that he is and seems to suffer from lack of pace and movement. Eitherway it was the sort of turgid first half that McLeish would have been proud of.
Luckily the second half was a different proposition as the game opened up and Blues pushed forward with more conviction. Steve Carr, my man of the match, and Chris Burke caused all manner of problems down the right whilst Gomes in midfield put his foot in to break up the opposition attacks to allow Mutch some creative freedom. Woods was then subbed to a few boos, not for his workmanlike performance but because the crowd saw their dreams of 4-4-2 dashed.
To the predictable cries of ‘Rooney, Rooney’ the man himself came onto provide some spark up front with his movement and eagerness instrumental in our winner. He got his head to a Ridgewell cross through pure determination and when it hit the post showed the coolness to lay it back across for the onrushing Fahy to net.
Overall it wasn’t pretty but we’d better get used to it and, at least it yielded a precious three points to give confidence a boost before our European sojourn.
