[12
FEB 01] COVENTRY CITY MATCH
REPORT - PREMIERSHIP
West Ham United (0) 1
Coventry City (0) 1
Blood, sweat, thunder and not a little
style poured forth from Coventry City, but it still took a
ninetieth minute own goal to give the Sky Blues a point.
KEY EVENTS
| 2
min |
Hedman
saves well from Kanoute with his legs. |
| 3
min |
Forrest
tips Hadji's goalbound shot around the post. |
| 10
min |
Hartson
scores with a fierce volley but the goal is ruled out
for offside. |
| 12
min |
Breen
almost heads into his own net. |
| 20
min |
Hartson almost turns Bellamy's cross in after a
flowing City move. |
| 30
min |
Hartson sets up Eustace but his header is weak. |
| 39
min |
Cole's shot has Hedman stretching. |
| 42
min |
Lampard shoots inches wide from the game's best
chance so far. |
| 48
min |
Di Canio hits the bar after a scintillating run
leaves Quinn standing. |
| 64
min |
Carsley clears off the line when Hedman misses a
corner. |
| 81
min |
Winterburn's
overlapping run and cross finds Cole unmarked for the
Hammers' goal. |
| 89
min |
Thompson's
cross goes in off Dailly. |
| 90
min |
Hartson is brought down in the box but the
referee waves play on. |
In
terms of performance it was a creditable one. Dogged at the
back, smooth in midfield, and finally with some beef to aim for
up front, Coventry were West Ham's equal for much of the game.
But
in relegation matters, one point against a team just a few
places above the drop zone is not enough at this desperate stage
of the season.
The
assembled mass of Kanoute, Di Canio, Cole, Carrick and Lampard
are enough to make any defence wilt, but the Sky Blues continued
to throw body after body in front of the ball.
In
attack Hartson nearly marked a dream debut with a goal, but it
was ruled out for offside.
The
game looked like it was heading for a draw, Carsley proving
effective in snuffing out Cole's challenge until he was
substituted as Gordon Strachan looked for all three points.
The
traditional Sky Blue hard-luck story seemed on the verge of
writing itself once more, when Cole scored in front of Sven
Goran Eriksson following a pass from Kanoute with eight minutes
to go.
Late
goals have been a feature of Coventry's season - perhaps they
need an injection of ideas of foreign fitness methods.
But
the Sky Blues didn't give up, and as a ranging Thompson free
kick swung into the box with seconds remaining there was a
stampede of Sky Blues shirts.
It
seemed to connect with Eustace and go in. The goal was later
given to Christian Dailly as an own goal, but it was a goal, and
a point.
Into
injury time, Hartson was brought down. The Sky Blues bench was
incensed that a penalty wasn't given and coach Gary Pendrey had
to be restrained from confronting Dermot Gallagher.
Given
that April's games are against Manchester United, Liverpool,
Ipswich, Leeds and Leicester, Coventry have six weeks to start
scoring and winning.
 MATCH
FACTS by Jim Brown
COVENTRY:
Magnus Hedman: Barry Quinn (Jay Bothroyd 87), Marcus Hall, Lee
Carsley (Youssef Chippo 76), Gary Breen, Richard Shaw, David
Thompson, John Eustace, John Hartson, Craig Bellamy (Marc
Edworthy 90), Moustapha Hadji
Subs not used: Chris
Kirkland, Paul Telfer
WEST HAM:
Craig Forrest: Sebastien Schemmel, Nigel Winterburn, Christian
Dailly, Hannu Tihinen, Stuart Pearce, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick,
Frederic Kanoute, Paulo Di Canio, Frank Lampard
Subs not used: Stephen Bywater, Titi Camara, Ian Pearce,
Rigobert Song, Ragnvald Soma
GOALS:
Coventry - Dailly (89 og)
West Ham - Cole (81)
REFEREE: D
Gallagher (Banbury)
BOOKINGS: [CHECK
CITY BOOKINGS FOR THE SEASON TO DATE]
Coventry -
Breen (9, foul on Kanoute), Quinn (17, dissent), Hartson (53,
foul on Schemmel), Thompson (57, foul on Cole), Eustace (83,
foul on Cole)
West Ham - Cole
(70, foul on Hall), Di Canio (78, dissent)
ATTENDANCE: 22,586
LEAGUE POSITIONS AFTER THIS
MATCH:
Coventry - 19th
West Ham - 14th
INTERESTING
FACTS:
-
Hartson's debut and he has a goal contentiously disallowed for
offside and a good penalty appeal turned down.
- First
goal and first point for City at Upton Park for four years.
- City's goal drought ends after 360 minutes.
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