COVENTRY CITY RESERVES 2-1 CHARLTON ATHLETIC RESERVES BY KEV MONKS
A game originally at the Arena,then moved to Rugby,only for snow to make the Butlin Road pitch unplayable and the game switched back to the undersoil heated Arena pitch saw Craig Reid fire two excellent goals to give City a well earned victory.
This was Alan Cork's 20th game in charge and made four changes to the side that had lost 3-0 at Fulham last Wednesday. Clayton Ince took over in goal with youngster Craig Kelly getting his first ever reserve team start taking over at left back from the departed Paul Watson. Also in defence were Rikki Bains and fit again Isaac Osbourne.
Charlton who lie fourth in the FA Premier Reserve League South table,also fielded a strongish team with Jason Euell and South African international Shaun Bartlett leading their attack.
With 56 fans in the away end and scouts from Port Vale,Leeds and Chesterfield watching on, Barry Fuller had the first shot of the evening,turning to fire over in the seventh minute.
Three minutes later,Craig Reid fired City ahead when he beat the offside trap, drew
Darren Randolph out of his goal and fired into an empty net.
Youseff Sofiane playing in short sleeves and gloves hit a deflected shot into the arms of Randolph. Reid did the same in the 26th minute with a neat turn and shot.
City were passing the ball around nicely with the industrious Thornton and Osbourne always looking to get the Sky Blues going forward but with Charlton playing the offside trap,chances were limited.
One chance did fall for Liam Davis who hit a stunning right footed drive which Randolph pushed over for a corner.
Craig Reid was doing his first team squad chances no harm and he fired wide three minutes after the restart.
In the 58th minute, Shaun Bartlett thought that he would take charge of the game and proceeded to discuss various aspects of the laws of the game with referee Dave Birkett. The referee did not accept Bartlett's opinion and cautioned him.
A game originally at the Arena,then moved to Rugby,only for snow to make the Butlin Road pitch unplayable and the game switched back to the undersoil heated Arena pitch saw Craig Reid fire two excellent goals to give City a well earned victory.
This was Alan Cork's 20th game in charge and made four changes to the side that had lost 3-0 at Fulham last Wednesday. Clayton Ince took over in goal with youngster Craig Kelly getting his first ever reserve team start taking over at left back from the departed Paul Watson. Also in defence were Rikki Bains and fit again Isaac Osbourne.
Charlton who lie fourth in the FA Premier Reserve League South table,also fielded a strongish team with Jason Euell and South African international Shaun Bartlett leading their attack.
With 56 fans in the away end and scouts from Port Vale,Leeds and Chesterfield watching on, Barry Fuller had the first shot of the evening,turning to fire over in the seventh minute.
Three minutes later,Craig Reid fired City ahead when he beat the offside trap, drew
Darren Randolph out of his goal and fired into an empty net.
Youseff Sofiane playing in short sleeves and gloves hit a deflected shot into the arms of Randolph. Reid did the same in the 26th minute with a neat turn and shot.
City were passing the ball around nicely with the industrious Thornton and Osbourne always looking to get the Sky Blues going forward but with Charlton playing the offside trap,chances were limited.
One chance did fall for Liam Davis who hit a stunning right footed drive which Randolph pushed over for a corner.
Craig Reid was doing his first team squad chances no harm and he fired wide three minutes after the restart.
In the 58th minute, Shaun Bartlett thought that he would take charge of the game and proceeded to discuss various aspects of the laws of the game with referee Dave Birkett. The referee did not accept Bartlett's opinion and cautioned him.
The South African international was involved two minutes later when his header inside the area the struck the arm of Rikki Bains and Mir Birkett point to the penalty spot.
Clayton Ince did very well to get a hand to Jason Euell's spot kick kick. However he could not stop Charlton's record buy from heading the rebound back into the net.
Euell and Bartlett were immediately replaced and in the 68th minute,Craig Kelly who makes up for his lack of height in effort aplenty limped off to be replaced by Ryan Lynch.
In the 71st minute,City were back in front with a goal out of nothing. Again, it was Craig Reid who was in the right place to turn inside the area and lash a powerful drive into the net from ten yards.
As time ticked away, Lawrie Wilson and Ryan Lynch were both cautioned with Lynch's for disputing Mr Birkett's decision.
With ten minutes left, Alex Varney skipped through the City defence and fired a low drive goalwards. However, Clayton Ince was equal to it and got down to push the ball round for a corner.
Vijay Sidhu and Stuart Wall came on for City as they held on for their fifth win of the season
HT CCFC 1-0 CAFC
FT CCFC 2-1 CAFC
Goals
Reid (10& 71),Euell (61)
FT CCFC 2-1 CAFC
Goals
Reid (10& 71),Euell (61)
Booked Bartlett (58),Wilson (73),Lynch (77)
Phillips (91)
Team
Ince,Impey (Wall 91),Kelly (Lynch 68),Bains,Osbourne,Gooding, Reid,Thornton,Sofiane (Sidhu 81),Ogarro,Davis
Subs Turner,Tuffey
Charlton
Randolph,Wilson,Brandao,Fuller,Sorondo,Gislason,Varney,Bartlett (Walker 61),Euell(Phillips 61),Weston (Wright 74)
Subs Cottrell,Nielson