COVENTRY CITY 0-0 STOKE CITY BY KEV MONKS
Against a strong,in form side as Stoke are at the moment,taking a point off them is no mean feat and City did just that with a goal less home draw.
For this game on a cold but sunny day at the Arena, Micky Adams kept faith with the team that had beaten QPR and drawn at Preston.
On the bench, there was a change with fit again Adam Virgo being named as the replacement for the suspended Kevin Kyle.
Now, as we all know, a lot of times it is a question of who you know more than what you know and Stoke boss Tony Pullis has used his contacts well to attract the likes of the Lee Hendrie, Patrick Berger,Salif Diao, Andy Griffin and Richardo Fuller who all started.
Andy Marshall, my man of the match had a fine game and made the first save of the game in the third minute when he stopped a Sidibe shot.
Stoke were well organised,closing City down well but the Sky Blues started the first half with plenty of purpose and won a 12th minute corner which forced Steve Simonsen in the Potters goal having to deal with a Ward header.
Another corner for City followed four minutes later when Danny Higginbotham got in a superbly timed tackle to prevent Dele Adebola from advancing.
Darren Currie, took his first ever corner for the Sky Blues in a home fixture and delivered a ball which Leon McKenzie could only head over.
Both sets of supporters started to raise their voices as McKenzie got down the right flank and crossed for Dele Adebola to head agonisingly wide, a minute after the corner.
As with the performance at Preston,City were good at sticking to their task but today were let down by some of their passing and ability to keep possession.
An instance of this allowed Stoke to have a 20th minute free kick which Lee Hendrie curled over the bar at the away end which was populated by 1871 Stokies.
In the Premiership,the referee now stops play when a player is down and in his/her opinion requires treat. In the Championship this has not been brought in and it took a while for the ball to be kicked out of play in the 23rd minute when the Stoke Physio and Club Doctor raced onto the field of play to treat Andy Griffin.
Two City corners followed before Stoke drew another save from Marshall in the 27trh minute when the custodian confidently dealt with a Fuller effort.
Just after the half hour mark, good work from Richard Duffy saw Adebola get in the same position he had for his goal at Preston. On this occasion,his shot lacked the power and Simonson got down to smother the low drive.
In the 33rd minute,a City corner saw Leon McKenzie get his head to Currie's flag kick but Simonsen was on the line to save for what was given as a free kick to Stoke after Mr Miller spotted a shove.
Only two minutes of stoppage time was added on at the end of the half and this proved enough time for Currie to send over a cross for Dele Adebola. The Nigerian met the ball with his head. We jumped up expecting the ball to go into the net but it hit the crossbar before being cleared.
City received some good applause from the 19,073 crowd for their first half performance but in the second half lacked the same sort of guile and urgency that they had displayed in the first forty five minutes.
Mr Miller, who looks like Pierre Luigi Collina without the menacing eyes and certainly the authority, came in for some stick from the CT Stand as he awarded a drop ball after Richard Duffy had been clattered by Patrick Berger and needed treatment.
In the 66th minute, Micky Adams made his first change with Stern John replacing Colin Cameron who had a reasonable game.
As in the game at the Britannia a month ago,Stoke's loanee from Aston Villa Lee Hendrie was abused every time he took a corner and became less of a threat as the game went on. Stoke's threats were coming from Mamady Sidibe and in the 68th minute, the Mali international advanced on goal and shot. Only for Andy Marshall to brilliantly block the ball with his feet.
As a back four unit, City defended well when required and in the 74th minute,Elliott Ward did well to get in a good tackle to stop Fuller from getting in a shot.
With ten to go,Andy Marshall produced his best save of the game when he got down to his left to push away for a corner a shot from Fuller who trotted off the pitch at a snails pace seven minutes later when he was substituted by Vincent Pericard.
In stoppage time, Chris Birchall came on for McKenzie but by then both sides had settled for a share of the spoils that keeps their unbeaten runs going.
HT CCFC 0-0 SCFC
FT CCFC 0-0 SCFC
ATT 19,073
Referee N. Miller Booked Russell,Hall
Team
Marshall,Hall,Page,Ward,Duffy, Clarke,Doyle,Cameron (John 65),Currie, McKenzie (Birchall 93), Adebola. SNU Gonzalez.Bischoff,Virgo
Stoke
Simonsen,Hoefkens,Duberry,Diao,Griffin,Higginbotham,Hendrie, Russell,Sidibe,Berger (Brammer 91),Fuller (Pericard 87) SNU Hill,Sweeny,Buxton