Coventry City 1 - 2 West Bromwich Albion
Posted: Sat Dec 04, 2021 4:10 pm
Controversial handball and OG as Sky Blues beaten
A poor first goal and a controversial second handed West Brom a comfortable lead before the break to set them on course for victory over Coventry City.
Suffering only their second CBS Arena defeat of the season, the Sky Blues struggled against the high pressing Baggies in a frustrating and disappointing first half.
There was a big improvement after the break when they mounted a sustained fight-back but a combination of a lack of quality in the final third and stout defending frustrated them until McFadzean popped up with a header from a corner to reduce the deficit with seven minutes to go.
The Baggies got at City from the first whistle, clearly looking to gain the early advantage and take the sting out of the home side who were buoyed by a terrific derby atmosphere.
But Coventry carved out the first decent attack of the game in the fifth minute when Fankaty Dabo played a lovely ball down the right flank to Callum O’Hare who pulled the ball back into the box to Ben Sheaf who mis-kicked his attempted shot which, hand he connected with, would have tested the keeper.
Albion pressed high up the pitch, putting the squeeze on Mark Robins' men and trying to force mistakes as Coventry looked to break on the counter attack with pace, only for their final pass to let them down time and time again or get caught by the off-side trap.
But the visitors got the breakthrough they’d been threatening in the 20th minute when Albion cut straight through the middle and Karlan Grant raced through to beat Simon Moore with a precise early shot to give his side the lead - and their first goal in five hours of football.
West Brom continued to push for a second and almost got it when Darnell Furlong was denied by Ian Maatsen who blocked with his chest in the six-yard box.
Coventry’s best chance of the first half came in the 37th minute when Kane was played in on the right and he hit a powerful effort that deflected off Kyle Bartley to the top of the post.
They then suffered a blow when Gus Hamer was forced off with what looked like a recurrence of his foot injury, and was replaced by Liam Kelly.
Disaster then struck before the break when Furlong sent in a low ball to the six-yard box from the right and Cedric Kipre handled onto McFadzean to send it over the line for a controversial own goal.
Robins made a change at half-time when he sent on centre-back Dom Hyam for Maatsen, and switched Dabo to left wing-back as City set about mounting a fight-back.
O’Hare went close with a shot across the face of goal and Sheaf hit a decent shot from outside the box that was denied by a decent save from Sam Johnstone.
Godden turned smartly to shoot at the near post but the keeper had it well covered before Kane hit a first tie effort at the far post which flew wide of the target.
Tyler Walker then replaced O’Hare as Coventry continued to dominate but just couldn’t find a way through as a lack of quality in the final third let them down, with Sheaf firing high over the crossbar.
City then got the breakthrough they’d been looking for when McFadzean headed home a Todd Kane corner seven minutes from time and they continued to push for an equaliser in five minutes of added time.