City Let Crewe Stay Up

Last updated : 08 May 2005 By Kev Monks
CREWE ALEXANDRA 2-1 COVENTRY CITY BY KEV MONKS

Coventry City gifted Crewe Alexandra with another season of Championship football allowing the Cheshire side to record a 2-1 win.

Now,I could easily think of a better place to spend my 40th birthday but the final game of the season was at Crewe Alexandra and so we set off up the M6 early on a Sunday morning, only to find that none of the local pubs in this town dominated by it's railway town were open until 12 noon.

Whilst that stunning performance in the final home league game at Highfield Road against Derby County had secured Championship football for another season, Crewe who had not won since beating Leeds on New Years Day, were in a battle to preserve theirs.

With Richard Duffy having returned to Portsmouth, Micky Adams who was subject of media speculation that he could be the next Sheffield United manager, brought back Adie Williams,Andy Whing and Lloyd Dyer.

On a day which saw sunshine and showers,2,223 City supporters descended on Gresty Road. Knowing that City had sold all their allocation,Crewe decided to make it as hard as possible for anyone to get a ticket in the home ends. This backfired as there were plenty of empty seats left.

A sea of sky blue balloons provided by the Sky Blue Trust greeted the teams and it was City who attacked first when Dele Adebola headed over a third minute Stephen Hughes free kick.

Gary McSheffrey, who like Hughes will begin contract talks this weeks also missed with a header two minutes later.

As the City fans down the side taunted those behind the goal during a heavy shower, Andy Whing who had been enjoying plenty of room down the right,got in a fifteenth minute header which Clayton Ince caught.

There was only one team in the game and in the 22nd minute, they took the lead when a foul on Whing gave Coventry a free kick close to the byline and about ten yards out.

Stephen Hughes sent over the kick and Dele Adebola rose at the far post to head home.

Now Adebola had said in the week that he would not celebrate if he scored against his former club and true to his word,he did not.

Crewe won a corner,two minutes later, this was cleared up to McSheffrey only to screw his effort from twelve yards wide.

There was little bemoaning of this wasted chance and chants of "Sign Him Up", were followed by ones telling Leicester whom the papers had linked with McSheffrey where to shove their bid.

In the 32nd minute, Steve Staunton limped off and was replaced by Claus Jorgensen.

Crewe were looking like a side heading for the drop and created their only real chance in the 35th minute thanks to David Vaughan flashing wide with a volley from 27 yards.

Eight minutes later,the Crewe fans thought they had scored after Justin Cochrane drilled wide. The ball rebounded off the advertising board behind the goal and the home fans jumped up to be told to sit down.

On the stroke of half-time,Andy Whing was poleaxed by a completely needless tackle by Kenny Lunt or something that had "unt" in it from what the City supporters were calling him.

Eight minutes into the second half and with City's foot seemingly well off the pedal, the assistant referee on the Main Stand side who was clearly not up with play and adjudged Stern John to be offside. Crewe broke up the other end and half-time substitute Michael Higdon fired past Steele from ten yards to draw the home side level.

On the hour mark, a lovely free kick by McSheffrey was beaten away by Ince. Lloyd Dyer who had his best game since his loan,crossed from the left and Adebola stabbed wide.

To say that City were not getting the decisions was an understatement as Luke Steele came out of his area to head away the ball. As he did so, in came a Crewe player who crashed to the ground. Referee Alan Kaye gave Crewe a free kick and cautioned Steele.

Shaun Goater had come on for Dele Adebola, when the home side took the lead. A half-hearted tackle from Stephen Hughes allowed David Vaughan to square for Steve Jones to score from close range.
The mood amongst the City supporters dropped and there was talk of match-fixing, letting Crewe which is a trip of just over an hour from Coventry win to save going to Gillingham and comments that "if this was City players showing why they deserved a contract for next season, then God help us".
News that Gillingham were beating Forest 2-1 filtered through with a volley of "Going Down Chants" hitting the air but as time was running out,the home fans were back dancing around the stands when they heard that Forest had got a late equaliser to keep them up by a single goal.
City had a few half chances late on and were booed by some on the final whistle after what was a poor performance.
HT CAFC 0-1 CCFC FT CAFC 2-1 CCFC
ATT 9,269
GOALS Dele Adebola (22)
Michael Higdon (53)
Steve Jones (72)
BOOKED Luke Steele
Man Of The Match - Andy Whing took the votes
TEAM
Steele,Whing,Page,Williams,Staunton (Jorgensen 32), Hughes (Morrell 85),Doyle, McSheffrey,John,Dyer,Adebola (Goater 67) SNU Pressman,Benjamin