Bristol Rovers 1-2 Coventry City

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Bristol Rovers 1-2 Coventry City

Postby dutchman » Sat Feb 01, 2020 8:26 pm

Jamie Allen and Liam Walsh fire Sky Blues to victory

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Coventry City recovered from a dreadful start to keep pace with their promotion rivals with a hard-fought victory at mid-table Bristol Rovers.

The Sky Blues were awful for the opening 35 minutes when former striker Jonson Clarke-Harris gave the Gas a deserved lead at the Memorial Stadium.

But a brilliant ball from Liam Walsh set up a goal for Jamie Allen before Callum O'Hare teed up Walsh to send Mark Robins’s men into the lead going into the break.

Although the visitors dominated much of the second half they couldn’t find a third goal to kill the game, resulting in a nervous four minutes of stoppage time when Rovers piled on the pressure looking for a late equaliser.

But City stood firm to record their fourth win on the road move within two points of second placed Wycombe with two games in hand.

It was a desperately poor start the game with City struggling to get into their rhythm against a big, physical and direct home side who tested their opponents twice inside the opening 20 minutes when Clarke-Harris sent in a powerful free-kick which Marosi got behind.

Kyle McFadzean then headed clear on the line to deny an Alex Rodman effort with his head before the centre-half got caught the wrong side of the former Coventry front man, who raced through onto on a long ball down the left.

The big striker then hit an impressive angled finish across Marosi to give the Gas a 23rd minute lead with City failing to carve out a single effort at the other end until after the half hour mark.

Despite their awful start, one moment of magic got the Sky Blues back in the game when Walsh sent Allen through with a defence-splitting pass, leaving the midfielder to coolly slot past keeper Jamal Blackman seven minutes from the break.

City had Marosi to thank at the other end when Clarke-Harris almost restored the home lead from a free-kick, only for the keeper to dive to his right and make a brilliant save at the foot of the post.

But O’Hare then turned provider, darting to the byline before pulling a clever ball back to Walsh to hit a clever finish over a group of defenders and into the top corner in first half stoppage time.

Coventry were much brighter in the second half when they began to stamp their authority on the game and look to put the result beyond doubt, playing some decent football in Rovers’ half as they looked for a third.

Marosi came to the rescue again midway through the second period when he raced out of his area to block Clarke-Harris with his knees before Robins sent on Max Biamou and Jordan Shipley for the final 14 minutes.

But City couldn’t find another goal and had to defend stoutly to see out the game amid a late push for an equaliser.

Attendance: 7,859 (1,299 City)

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