COVENTRY CITY 1-1 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY BY KEV MONKS
Date 27/03/10 At The Ricoh Arena Championship
Team
Westwood, Cranie, McPake, Wood, Hall (Hussey 46), Clingan, Baker, Deegan, Sears, Stead (Bell 46), Eastwood (Morrison 46). SNU Konstantopolous, Barnett, Grandison
Sheff Wed
Grant, Spurr, Purse, Tudgay, Potter, Beevers (Jeffers 82), O'Connor, Clarke, Varney, Soares (Gray 74), Nolan. SNU O'Donnell, Hinds, Easjas, Simek
HT CCFC 0-0 SWFC FT CCFC 1-1 SWFC
ATT 17,608
Referee N.Swarbrick
Booked Hall, Purse, Cranie, Spurr
Goals Luke Varney (66), Richard Wood (78)
Man Of The Match James McPake and Richard Wood shared the votes
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Coventry City might have worn the same kit as Spurs but there was no Premier League performance from them as they drew 1-1 with Sheffield Wednesday at the Ricoh Arena.
Today was Legends Day, which had been excellently organised by the Coventry City Former Players Association Committee and you have to wonder what the legends such as Tommy Hutchison, George Hudson and Ian Wallace made of a City team which took to the field with no Stephen Wright and Freddie Sears replacing David Bell who had been marginally better than the Scouser at West Brom on Wednesday night.
Willie Carr and Ernie Hunt
Playing in white shirts and navy shorts, City attacked the CT Stand in the first half, playing the same 4-5-1 formation as the visitors, who were well supported by 1,834 fans.
With the sun shining brightly at the Ricoh Arena, City had an eighth minute header by Richard Wood from a Clingan corner headed off the line by Darren Potter but after that failed to really trouble Lee Grant in the Owls goal apart from one a 25th minute effort from the Ulsterman which the keeper caught at the second attempt.
Wednesday for their part, looked up for the game and were the first side to have the ball in the net on 24 minutes when thankfully, the whistle had gone before Luke Varney hit a cracking volley into the net.
With Jon Stead struggling in the air and little being created down the channels, the City support which included supporters from Northern Ireland, South Wales, London, Brighton and Kent to name but a few places, was getting frustrated with what was becoming the third consecutive poor first half in a week.
Chris Coleman changed the formation, moving Eastwood up to assist Stead but after the half time interval where the former players got a good reception from both sets of supporters, the City manager, who, it is understood had been calm in the dressing room, made three changes.
Clinton Morrison, David Bell and Chris Hussey were all sent on for the second half.
The solid James McPake sent a header from a corner just over in the 51st minute and two minutes later, the Sky Blues had the ball in the net through Clinton Morrison but like Wednesday's effort in the first half, it was ruled out for offside.
It did, however, lift the crowd and the noise from the home areas increased. City won two corners whilst Leon Clarke fired well over in the 55th minute and three minutes later, Tudgay's header had to be smartly scrambled away by Keiren Westwood.
McPake headed over but in the 66th minute, David Bell, who had been on the right of midfield gave the ball back to a Wednesday player. Luke Varney got down the left and slipped the ball past Westwood on his near post before running round the back of the goal and celebrating with his team-mates by the opposite corner flag.
The City support sat looking at each other in dismay but in the 78th minute, Coventry City were level when Lee Grant came out and was blocked by one of his own defenders. Up rose Richard Wood and his header went into the net.
Despite, being well abused by the Wednesdayites, Wood did not celebrate scoring against the club he joined as an eleven year old. But we did and although the City support were less than pleased with the performance, most went home happy with a point.