DERBY COUNTY 1-1 COVENTRY CITY BY KEV MONKS
Coventry City put in a superb performance to put a dent in Derby County's promotion hopes.
After the miserable defeat on Saturday, Iain and Tim kicked backsides and made five changes.
Colin Hawkins was injured so in came Robert Page. Isaac Osbourne and Jay Tabb came back into midfield with Kevin Kyle and Leon McKenzie up front.
Derby fielded former Sky Blue Stephen Bywater in goal and Marc Edworthy's whose early injury held play up for three minutes.
When the game restarted and yours truly was back in the land of living after a fit, City who were backed by an excellent very noisy following, settled well.
The defence was robust and worked hard marshalling the threat of Steve Howerd and Craig Fagan whilst the midfield easily combated the highly rated Giles Barnes.
City did have chances in the opening half winning three corners and shots from Kyle and Osbourne keeping Bywater on his toes.
Two minutes before the break,Andy Marshall made a superb save to push the ball off the line from a header by Darren Moore.
Both managers were showing plenty of passion and commitment but a ball throwing incident involving Tim Flowers saw the assistant manager banished to the stand by Referee Eddie Ilderton in the 55th minute of what was an enthralling contest.
The 1661 City supporters kept backing their team and were rewarded in the 73rd minute when a mistake by Marc Edworthy and then Tyrone Mears let in Leon McKenzie.
Stephen Bywater,who had been advised by some of the City support to "chuck one in" came out of his goal and hesitated. This gave the former Norwich striker room to get in a shot from seven yards under a crunching challenge from a defender which went into the bottom of the net.
The City support went absolutely ballistic whilst McKenzie received treatment for a hamstring injury which eventually forced him off.
Five minutes after the goal,Derby equalised when a long ball from Howerd was met by Matt Oakley who volleyed home from six yards.
Michael Mifsud had replaced McKenzie and as time ebbed away,the Maltese international wasted two glorious chances with some poor footwork.
A win would have been brilliant but a point was more than acceptable from a very palatable performance.
HT DCFC 0-0 CCFC FT DCFC 1-1 CCFC
ATT 29 940
Goals Leon McKenzie (73), Matt Oakley (78)
Booked Virgo
Team
Marshall,Hall,Page,Virgo,Ward,Osbourne,Tabb,Doyle,Hughes,Kyle (Adebola 81),McKenzie (Mifsud 76). SNU Steele,Cameron,Turner
Derby
Bywater,McEveley,Mears,Edworthy,Moore,Oakley (Johnson 90),Jones,Barnes,Fagan (Bisgaard 70),Lupoli (Currie 76),Howerd SNU Grant,Camara
Coventry City put in a superb performance to put a dent in Derby County's promotion hopes.
After the miserable defeat on Saturday, Iain and Tim kicked backsides and made five changes.
Colin Hawkins was injured so in came Robert Page. Isaac Osbourne and Jay Tabb came back into midfield with Kevin Kyle and Leon McKenzie up front.
Derby fielded former Sky Blue Stephen Bywater in goal and Marc Edworthy's whose early injury held play up for three minutes.
When the game restarted and yours truly was back in the land of living after a fit, City who were backed by an excellent very noisy following, settled well.
The defence was robust and worked hard marshalling the threat of Steve Howerd and Craig Fagan whilst the midfield easily combated the highly rated Giles Barnes.
City did have chances in the opening half winning three corners and shots from Kyle and Osbourne keeping Bywater on his toes.
Two minutes before the break,Andy Marshall made a superb save to push the ball off the line from a header by Darren Moore.
Both managers were showing plenty of passion and commitment but a ball throwing incident involving Tim Flowers saw the assistant manager banished to the stand by Referee Eddie Ilderton in the 55th minute of what was an enthralling contest.
The 1661 City supporters kept backing their team and were rewarded in the 73rd minute when a mistake by Marc Edworthy and then Tyrone Mears let in Leon McKenzie.
Stephen Bywater,who had been advised by some of the City support to "chuck one in" came out of his goal and hesitated. This gave the former Norwich striker room to get in a shot from seven yards under a crunching challenge from a defender which went into the bottom of the net.
The City support went absolutely ballistic whilst McKenzie received treatment for a hamstring injury which eventually forced him off.
Five minutes after the goal,Derby equalised when a long ball from Howerd was met by Matt Oakley who volleyed home from six yards.
Michael Mifsud had replaced McKenzie and as time ebbed away,the Maltese international wasted two glorious chances with some poor footwork.
A win would have been brilliant but a point was more than acceptable from a very palatable performance.
HT DCFC 0-0 CCFC FT DCFC 1-1 CCFC
ATT 29 940
Goals Leon McKenzie (73), Matt Oakley (78)
Booked Virgo
Team
Marshall,Hall,Page,Virgo,Ward,Osbourne,Tabb,Doyle,Hughes,Kyle (Adebola 81),McKenzie (Mifsud 76). SNU Steele,Cameron,Turner
Derby
Bywater,McEveley,Mears,Edworthy,Moore,Oakley (Johnson 90),Jones,Barnes,Fagan (Bisgaard 70),Lupoli (Currie 76),Howerd SNU Grant,Camara