FA Cup Fourth Round: Coventry City 0-0 Birmingham City

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FA Cup Fourth Round: Coventry City 0-0 Birmingham City

Postby dutchman » Sat Jan 25, 2020 7:03 pm

Callum O'Hare miss means St. Andrews FA Cup repeat

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Coventry City and Birmingham City will do it all again after playing out a historic FA Cup stalemate at St Andrew’s.

Blues went closest to breaking the deadlock early in the second half when Marko Marosi denied Jefferson Montero in a tight and hard-fought fourth round tie between the League One hosts and their Championship opponents.

Substitute Max Biamou forced Lee Camp into his first save on 76 minutes as Mark Robins’s men enjoyed their best spell of the game, and could have snatched it at the death when Villa loan man O’Hare scuffed his shot at the far post.

The game started at a frantic pace with both sides going at it full tilt and not letting anyone settle on the ball as both teams battle for possession in a cauldron of an atmosphere where the banter was flying back and forth between the two sets of fans.

It was Blues who looked the more likely in the opening 15 minutes with wide man Mantero causing problems down the left as the ‘visitors’ looked to feed target man Lukas Jutkiewicz – the former Sky Blues striker getting on the end of two early crosses with his head and forcing Marosi into a routine save from a snap shot in the box.

Jordan Shipley had City’s first chance of the game when he found a pocket of space in behind, only for his angled shot to take a deflection into the side netting in a half when opportunities were few and far between for the Sky Blues who had to be on their toes to deal with several counter attacks as Blues broke on them at speed.

Birmingham were very well organised at the back and Coventry struggled to break on them effectively when they did have the ball in the final third in a tight first half affair.

Danger man Montero was denied by a terrific save from Marosi in the first minute of the second half when Blues got at City from the whistle, swiftly followed by a centre from opposite wide man Kerim Mrabti that the keeper came out to punch clear, while the Blues player injured himself in the process and had to go off.

There continued to be little to choose between the two sides on a day when goal scoring opportunities were at a minimum.

Robins made a double substitution on 68 minutes when he threw on Biamou and O’Hare for Westbrooke and Shipley in a bid to find a goal to break the deadlock as the game got more and more stretched with several counter attacks from both sides.

Coventry enjoyed their best spell immediately after the change when Biamou forced Camp into his first save of the game, diving to his left to palm away the Frenchman’s low, curling effort after being fed in behind by O’Hare.

City looked vulnerable when Blues broke on them but continued to look the more likely as the second half went on, Liam Kelly going close when he hit a hard and low shot just wide from distance.

And O’Hare missed the chance for glory in stoppage time when he mis-hit in front of an open goal at the far post after Amadou Bakayoko had headed brilliantly back across the face of goal.

But the game ended goalless to set up a fourth round replay.

Attendance:21,193 (9,465 Birmingham and 12,028 from Coventry)

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