Coventry City 1 Southend United 0

[dutchman]

Zain Westbrooke raises Sky Blues smiles on a sad day at St Andrew's



Mark Robins’s men moved the ball about well on an immaculate pitch and carved out their first real chance as early as the sixth minute when the impressive Westbrooke squared a lovely ball to Jordan Shipley who curled inches round the far post.

Jordy Hiwula looked certain to score just before the half hour mark as Coventry dominated the first half, the striker latching onto a ball over the top and going round the keeper. But just as he looked to slot home into an unguarded net Shrimpers’ skipper Mark Milligan slid in to clear off the line at the last second.

City enjoyed some impressive approach play throughout the opening 45 but lacked that killer touch to punish a poor visiting side that didn’t have a single effort in the first half.

The Sky Blues continued to push after the break as they popped the ball about well to maintain their grip on the game, and finally broke the deadlock from the boot of Westbrooke.

Amadou Bakayoko set it up with a decent run from the left, cutting in across the face of the 18-yard area before slipping the ball to the midfielder who hit it beautifully first time, sending a hard and low shot into the far bottom corner to give City a 51st minute lead.

United boss Kevin Bond immediately responded by sending on strikers Simon Cox and Stephen Humphrys which had the desired effect of pepping things up for the visitors who suddenly came to life and looked like they were going to finally make a game of it.

But United’s late fight-back came to nothing and the visitors were left to rue a woeful miss from unmarked centre-back Joe Shaughnessy who somehow headed wide from seven yards out with all the goal to aim at.

Marko Marosi then made a brilliant save, tipping over a Nathan Ralph header from one of a flurry of late corners while Humphrys headed onto the crossbar as City hung on in the last ten minutes of what should have been a far more comfortable three points.

The players left the unfamiliar field to hearty applause from an incredibly vocal crowd in an overall attendance of 6,534, but this is a fan base divided with some 5,691 of last season’s 11,161 average home following either unable or unwilling to travel to Birmingham to watch their football club.