Coventry City 3 - 2 Portsmouth

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Hundreds of Coventry City fans left queuing around the Ricoh Arena for tickets



Coventry City fans were left queuing around the Ricoh Arena for matchday tickets against Portsmouth tonight just minutes before kick-off.

Supporters had been told there were no cash turnstiles available for the game and to use the stadium's 'expanded Matchday Ticket Office' instread.

But this lead to hundreds of fans waiting for up to an hour for a ticket to the EFL Trophy game.

Queues stretched from the office by the Jimmy Hill statue right round the casino and towards the away stand.

Finally, the cash turnstiles were opened just 15 minutes before the game started.

Asked if there would be cash turnstiles available for future games, a spokesman for Coventry City said: “As part of the Ticketmaster contract we’re piloting the expanded matchday ticket office and encouraging fans to use that method.”

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Match report and analysis as Andy Rose fires Sky Blues into second round of EFL Cup



Coventry are in the hat for today’s EFL Cup draw after avoiding what would have been an embarrassing exit.

The Sky Blues weren’t just playing a side from a lower division, the selections suggested that they were treating the EFL Cup as more of an early-season priority.

Tony Mowbray confounded expectations by making a mere three changes from Saturday’s starting line-up at Swindon, Ruben Lameiras, Marcus Tudgay and Ben Stevenson replacing Jodi Jones, Marvin Sordell and Dion Kelly-Evans. Paul Cook, in contrast, fielded an entirely fresh 11, captained by Adam Barton and with former favourites Carl Baker and Michael Doyle on the bench.

But having conceded the first goal and been pegged back to level terms after a dominant second-half display they finally eased through with an extra-time strike by Andy Rose.

Another Ricoh old boy, Steven Pressley, was in the stands and would no doubt heartily have approved as Pompey, spurred on by a typically raucous knot of fans, opened with a frenetic high-pressing rush which had City struggling to find their passing rhythm.

They seemed to have weathered that storm and gently tested Alex Bass with long-distance skidders from Haynes and Tudgay but a charged-down shot by Tollitt led to a sequence of three Portsmouth corners and from the third, taken short, Bennett wriggled into the area and hit the deck as Gadzhev nibbled from behind.

The referee took his linesman’s word it was a foul – much to the disgust of City’s players who queued up to accuse Bennett of diving – and once the kerfuffle died down Main drilled a perfect finish into the corner of the net.

Po nearly doubled the lead two minutes later when he stuck out a boot to deflect Bennett’s miscued shot but Charles-Cook reacted well. And two minutes after that City almost hauled themselves level, Bass blocking Tudgay’s jabbed effort from Rose’s far-post knock-down.

Portsmouth saw out the half with no great anxiety – City’s best opportunity scuppered when Thomas went too early for a Ricketts through-ball – and Mowbray responded by pitching on Jones who instantly lifted the fans with a couple of sinuous dribbles before teeing up Stevenson for a shot that whistled past the post.

Jones and Rose combined splendidly down the right to chisel a gap in the Portsmouth defence but Tudgay’s shot was charged down and Lameiras sliced the rebound wide.

The Sky Blues were in complete control by this stage and they were level on the hour as Davies met Lameiras’s chipped cross with a header that skewed upwards but barely outwards and Haynes, running in from the left, met it on the drop to steer a brilliantly controlled shot into the far bottom corner.

Haynes, Reid and Lameiras all tried their luck as the Sky Blues poured forward and Jones couldn’t quite get a clean header to Reid’s fine cross.

Jones and Reid in particular were turning on the party flicks as they tried to work an opening but it was Lameiras who slipped through the killer pass for Gadzhev to tuck home his first competitive goal.

City had just eight minutes to hold on against a side who had scarcely landed a stud in opposition territory for half-an hour. But just three of those minutes had ticked away when a sudden breakaway saw Stevenson trip Naismith 25 yards out – earning a yellow card for his trouble – and the Portsmouth left-back picked himself up to curl a glorious free-kick into the top corner.

City looked understandably deflated at the start of extra-time but they soon perked up, Bass denying Jones and Laneiras with excellent saves either side of an even sharper save by Charles-Cook. Bennett seemed certain to score when substitute Hunt sprinted down the right and picked him out in prime position but Charles-Cook somehow managed to block at his feet without conceding another spot-kick.

The value of that intervention was underlined when Haynes cut in from the right to curl in a right-footed curler and although Bass parried Rose pounced to push the rebound just inside the post.

City settled for ball retention in the final 15 minutes but, denied a cushion when Bass saved from Lameiras after brilliant work by Jones, could never relax until the final whistle drowned out the Pompey Chimes bell-ringer.