Coventry City 0 - 1 Forest Green Rovers

Latest team news, results, video clips, interviews and live coverage

Coventry City 0 - 1 Forest Green Rovers

Postby dutchman » Tue Oct 17, 2017 7:31 pm

User avatar
dutchman
Site Admin
 
Posts: 50286
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:24 am
Location: Spon End

Re: Coventry City 0 - 1 Forest Green Rovers

Postby dutchman » Tue Oct 17, 2017 10:26 pm

Sky Blues fall to second defeat at home

Image

League Two minnows Forest Green Rovers achieved their first away win of the season in their first ever meeting with Coventry City, courtesy of a goalkeeping error.

The Little Club on the Hill haven’t been able to buy a league win in recent months but pitched up at the Ricoh Arena and picked up their first three points since August 19 as the Sky Blues suffered their second defeat to the division’s smaller sides in the space of a few days, having lost at Accrington Stanley on Saturday.

Mark Robins’s men dominated proceedings but simply couldn’t find a way through the visitors’ stout defence after they’d grabbed a 29th minute lead out of nowhere.

City stopper Lee Burge, who has been a key part of the side’s outstanding defensive record this season, somehow failed to hold what looked like a simple catch from a shot from just outside the box that appeared to move in the air.

The home side continued to push for an equaliser after the break but extended their miserable goalless run to three games in the division to intensify the concern among the fans – who booed at the final whistle – as to where the goals are going to come from this season.

Robins made two changes to his side from the weekend defeat at Accrington, naming three strikers in his front four with Marc McNulty coming in as a straight swap for Devon Kelly-Evans and starting to the right of the manager’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation. The summer looked lively early on, slipping the ball to Duckens Nazon who had an early effort blocked.

The other change saw a welcome return for Liam Kelly who missed Saturday’s match with a bruised ankle, the experienced midfielder replacing Ben Stevenson alongside skipper Michael Doyle and the pair making their presence felt in the middle of the park from the first whistle as City dominated the early play against one of the division’s struggling sides.

But Rovers were well organised with two banks of four behind the ball as the sought to contain the Sky Blues who just lacked that little bit of quality to find a way through against the visitors who rarely troubled them at the other end, bar a handful of set-pieces.

Jodi Jones managed to hit the first shot on target after 20 minutes, forcing keeper Bradley Collins to stretch a little but not enough to really trouble the on-loan Chelsea player.

But his opposite number Burge dropped a real clanger just short of the half hour mark when he failed to hold what looked like should have been a routine catch from a Keanu Marsh-Brown shot straight at him from just outside the D, and watched as it slipped round him and into the back of the net.

City responded with a flurry of action as Doyle took the bull by the horns with a fierce left footer forcing Collins to dive full-stretch to push the ball out for a corner, from which Max Biamou had a far post header turned round the post.

The game was getting pretty feisty both on and off the pitch with Doyle, who was eventually booked, and Charlie Cooper mixing it up in midfield and Rovers’ assistant manager Scott Lindsey and Robins having to be spoken to by the referee after the pair exchanged angry words in the technical area.

It was a frustrating first half for Coventry who lacked a bit of guile and urgency in the final third.

Robins changed things around slightly after the break when he moved Nazon out wide and sent McNulty into a more central role and it almost paid instant dividends when Jones played the on-loan Wolves man into space on the left, only for him to hit a powerful shot wide of the near post.

The leading scorer was seeing plenty of the ball but had several efforts blocked as Forest Green’s back four defended as if their lives depended on it, the visitors clearly relishing their big stadium surroundings and rising to the challenge.

Biamou was winning plenty of balls in the air as City began to turn the screw and went agonisingly close when he rose to connect with a Nazon centre, only to send it across the face of goal and wide of the target.

The home side kept plugging away but simply couldn’t hit the target and with 20 minutes left Robins threw on teenagers Jordan Ponticelli and Jordan Shipley for Biamou and full-back Stokes, respectively.

The introduction of Ponticelli was met with all-round approval from the fans who have been desperate to see the 19-year-old get more match time, and he tested the keeper within minutes when he got his head on the end of a Jack Grimmer cross to force the keeper to save.

Shipley, meanwhile, was encouraged to get forward and get balls into the box with his impressive left foot deliveries being utilised from corners as well ahead of seven minutes of frantic added time.

But City simply couldn’t get the goal they were so desperately seeking and suffered their second defeat at the Ricoh this season – the other against Newport County also being decided by a goalkeeping error by Liam O’Brien.

Attendance: 6,366 (212 away).

Image
User avatar
dutchman
Site Admin
 
Posts: 50286
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:24 am
Location: Spon End

Re: Coventry City 0 - 1 Forest Green Rovers

Postby dutchman » Sat Oct 21, 2017 1:22 pm

Coventry City pitch invader given lifetime stadium ban

Image

A Coventry City supporter who invaded the pitch to confront their players during a home game has been banned from the Ricoh Arena for life.

Darren Kedzierski ran on to the field in Tuesday's 1-0 defeat against Forest Green Rovers.

He shouted at his team's players before being escorted off by club captain Michael Doyle and a steward.

In an interview with the Coventry Telegraph, he said he told the players he was "fed up" of watching "rubbish".

West Midlands Police is investigating, says the club which has issued a statement detailing the ban's terms.

It said Mr Kedzierski had been issued not only with a lifetime stadium ban that applied to all events including music concerts, but a club ban that applied to home and away matches "for the foreseeable future".

The statement read: "We know that football is an emotional game, and that Tuesday's game was a frustrating one for supporters. However, there can be no excuse for entering the field of play."

In the Coventry Telegraph interview, Mr Kedzierski, a supporter of the club for more than 40 years, said players were not "putting in any effort".

He stressed he "wasn't abusive" as he explained to player Michael Doyle the club was "in disarray" and admitted "a bit of remorse" following his actions, which he described as "the only way I can show what I think about the club that's doing its best to alienate everyone".

:bbc_sport_logo:
User avatar
dutchman
Site Admin
 
Posts: 50286
Joined: Fri Oct 23, 2009 1:24 am
Location: Spon End

Re: Coventry City 0 - 1 Forest Green Rovers

Postby rebbonk » Sat Oct 21, 2017 4:21 pm

City can't afford to lose fans. :stir:
Of course it'll fit; you just need a bigger hammer.
User avatar
rebbonk
 
Posts: 65579
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2009 7:01 am


Return to Sky Blues

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests

  • Ads
cron