Coventry City 4 - 1 Sheffield United

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Coventry City 4 - 1 Sheffield United

Postby dutchman » Sat Mar 12, 2022 6:22 pm

Unplayable Gyokeres and O'Hare put Blades to sword

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A second half Callum O’Hare brace sank promotion chasing Sheffield United in a pulsating Legends Day game at the CBS Arena.

The Sky Blues went a goal behind to the Blades after just 16 minutes but pulled level through Viktor Gyokeres before the break.

And City, who were without manager Mark Robins and assistant Adi Viveash who tested positive for Covid in the morning, put the visitors to the sword with three brilliant second half goals to cut their gap to the top six to just three points.

The unplayable Gyokeres had a hand in both of O’Hare’s goals before the former Villa man set up Matty Godden for a fourth to complete a resounding victory over last season’s Premier League outfit.

The game started at a frantic pace with attacks at both ends amid a noisy atmosphere ramped up by more than 4,000.

Both sides enjoyed corners in the opening five minutes, albeit neither threatening the goal, in an exciting end to end opening ten minutes when the Blades went closest to finding an opening when Morgan Gibbs-White was denied by a brilliant tackle by Jake Clarke-Salter in the six yard box.

But City were guilty of handing the visitors the early lead when midfielder Sander Berge was allowed to direct a free header from close range at the far post past the helpless Simon Moore.

The ball had been sent backwards and forwards across the box in the build-up to a hugely disappointing goal from a defensive point of view as Coventry failed to pick up their man, handing United the 16th minute lead.

The Sky Blues, however, were back on level terms four minutes later when a long ball over the top from Michael Rose sprang Gyokeres clean through on goal. The big Swede timed his run to perfection as the ball dropped over centre-back Jack Robinson’s head and the striker steadied himself and hit a low shot past Wes Foderingham with 20 minutes on the clock.

Paul Heckingbottom’s men went close to restoring their lead minutes later when more pressure in and around the bos resulted in Conor Hourihane shooting inches wide of the far post in an entertaining and often nerve-racking affair.

Gyokeres was unlucky not to get a second just after the half hour mark when he ran at centre-back John Egan and cut past the defender and hit a low curling shot that was pushed out for a corner by the keeper at full stretch.

There was drama at the other end when Moore picked up the ball after a tackle sent it back to him, only for the referee to harshly judge it to have been a backpass that he thought had come from an opposition player, leaving the referee to award an indirect free-kick seven yards out from City’s goal.

The set-piece was touched to Hourihane who hit a close-range shot that was blocked by Rose who was winded in the process.

City broke away on the counter attack brilliantly when Jamie Allen showed his marker a clean pair of heels before playing a one-two with O’Hare and feeding Hamer on the right with just the keeper to beat. But the Brazilian put his shot too close to Foderingham who made the save.

City had two corners in quick succession, the second of which saw Gyokeres shoved from behind, going down claiming a penalty but the referee having none of it.

The Sky Blues made a positive start to the second half when Allen fed O’Hare who shot inches wide before the home side took the lead after terrific work from Gyokeres who muscled past Egan in the box and hit a shot which the keeper did well to get a hand to and send it onto the inside of the far post.

O’Hare then nipped in and lifted over the line as the keeper attempted to recover with a defender on the line.

And the midfielder doubled his tally minutes later in the 59th minute after more great work from the Swede who cut into the box from the left and slipped a pass to the former Villa man who took a touch with his right to take him away from his marker and hit an angled shot across the face of goal in inside the far side netting to give City a 3-1 advantage.

Matty Godden then passed up a glorious opportunity to extend the lead when Gyokeres set him up for what looked like a simple finish, only to put his shot too close to the keeper.

But City got the cushion their efforts deserved minutes later in 67th when Ian Maatsen showed neat skill on the edge of the box to feed O’Hare who squared the ball to Godden to slam home to make it 4-1 and complete a memorable Legends Day performance.

ATTENDANCE: 21,732 (4,275 away)

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Re: Coventry City 4 - 1 Sheffield United

Postby dutchman » Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:38 pm

O'Hare double helps Coventry beat Blades

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Two goals from Callum O'Hare helped Coventry City keep their hopes of reaching the Championship play-offs alive with a 4-1 win over in-form Sheffield United.

Sander Berge opened the scoring for the Blades, but Viktor Gyokeres got in behind the defence to quickly equalise for the home side.

O'Hare then put the Sky Blues ahead early in the second half, before adding a second just seven minutes later.

O'Hare then set up Matty Godden, who wrapped up the victory with Coventry's fourth goal of the day.

The win means Coventry move up to 10th, three points behind Sheffield United in fifth place.

Other than league leaders Fulham, Sheffield United have been the in-form team of the Championship having only lost once in their previous 12 matches to storm into the top six.

Coventry, by contrast, had lost their two previous games and were without manager Mark Robins and assistant manager Adi Viveash, who both tested positive for Covid-19 prior to kick-off.

After scoring in the midweek win over Middlesbrough, Norwegian Berge took only 16 minutes to put the visitors ahead with a header from close range from a long throw-in.

However, Coventry's top scorer Gyokeres quickly brought the Sky Blues level with his 14th goal of the season, when a long ball came in over the top and he got the better of Wes Foderingham to score in the bottom corner.

With both teams chasing the play-off places and the three points, it remained open. Conor Hourihane sent a half-volley wide for United, Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer both forced Foderingham into making saves, while a shot from O'Hare skimmed the bar.

Coventry continued to push for a goal after the restart and Gyokeres found himself in another one-on-one with Foderingham. While his shot ricocheted off the post, it eventually fell to O'Hare who bundled it into the net.

The 23-year-old marked his 100th start for Coventry with his second to put them 3-1 up, this time from a tight angle thanks to another Gyokeres assist. And less than 10 minutes later he was involved again, squaring the ball to Godden to add the fourth.

Morgan Gibbs-White and Billy Sharp both saw chances go begging for Sheffield United, while Coventry substitute Martyn Waghorn hit the post deep in injury time.

Coventry City first-team coach Dennis Lawrence told BBC CWR:

"I think the first and foremost most important thing is the gaffer and Adi have a good recovery because we know how this Covid thing works, it affects people in different ways.

"In majority the preparation was done in the build-up to the game, so it was more or less for me to reinforce everything that we wanted to do today.

"The players were outstanding, they really responded going a goal down against a very, very good team. It was pleasing - it was pleasing for the fans, and it was pleasing for the players and I'm sure the manager and Adi will be very, very proud of them."

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