Five things we learned against Forest Green
COVENTRY City sit third in their four team mini-league Group E in the Checkatrade Trophy after their 1-1 draw with League Two Forest Green Rovers.
The Sky Blues earned a point from the stalemate over the course of 90 minutes and added a bonus point after winning a penalty shoot-out 4-2 following the final whistle.
Here, we pick out the findings from the competition’s group game at the Ricoh Arena.
The Checkatrade Trophy still doesn’t float most fans’ boat at this early stage of proceedings.
Tuesday night’s official attendance of 1,341 (including 85 away) was just three more than the lowest ever gate at the Ricoh Arena set in December 2016 when 1,338 turned out to watch the Sky Blues beat Crawley Town in the knockout stages of the competition.
City went on to reach the final at Wembley that season, of course, when 43,000 helped make up a record-breaking 74,434 crowd for the Football League Trophy.
The club’s record low for a competitive home game, says official statistician Jim Brown, is 1,111 for a full members cup game against Millwall in 1985.
Mark Robins has, for the second year running since he led City to Trophy victory over Oxford United at Wembley Stadium, made no secret of the fact that, while he wants his side to get as far as they can in the competition, he is using it to suit his squads’ needs.
He made ten changes to the team that beat Charlton Athletic last weekend on a night when Forest Green made eight themselves, insisting that he needed to get valuable match minutes into players like Abu Ogogo and other seniors who are yet to make an impact or are returning from injury.
He also sees it as an ideal opportunity to further the development of young players by handing them first-team experience.
City’s final result, meanwhile, a 1-1 draw with a bonus point from a penalty shoot-out leaves the cub with two points from their opening two group games and needing to beat Cheltenham Town away next month, while relying on Arsenal Under-21s beating Forest Green, who currently top the group with four points.
Three of the young players who started against Rovers – Jordon Thompson, Morgan Williams and Jak Hickman – acquitted themselves extremely well.
Hickman, who normally plays at right-back, was deployed further up the pitch and really caught the eye in the first 45 minutes when he ran himself into the ground with a busy, enthusiastic and tenacious contribution on his senior debut.
Centre-back Williams, a summer signing from Mickleover Sports, was also handed his full senior debut and showed what a good prospect he is with some excellent defending alongside the equally impressive Thompson who, like Hickman, has come through the Sky Blues Academy.
Further debuts were handed to Dexter Walters, a winger and summer signing from Tamworth who has put in some noticeable displays in the Under-23s, and 17-year-old Jack Burroughs who has been at the club since the age of six.
Burroughs is a versatile player who can play in a number of positions but is, perhaps, best suited to a wide right or attacking midfield role.
He’s got decent pace and looks a real talent who has a chance of making it at City. Although he’s still got a long way to go and a lot of hard work ahead, he took his first step towards achieving that ambition this week as he strives to be yet another to step off the Academy conveyor belt.
Jordy Hiwula got off to a flyer against Forest Green, scoring after just two minutes.
But the 24-year-old striker passed up the opportunity of a hat-trick during the course of the 90 minutes and even missed his penalty in the shoot-out, proving that confidence is a delicate thing.
He clearly went into the game full of self-belief after an impressive cameo at Charlton, but his finishing showed that he can be up one minute and back down the next.
He wasn’t the only one to pass up gilt-edged chances in the game: Tony Andreu and Amadou Bakayoko should also have got at least a goal apiece, if not two.
But there were good signs overall from all three who are getting themselves into good positions to score but just not making the right decisions in front of goal.
But that will come and when it does Robins should have a pretty potent five, including Conor Chaplin and Jonson ClarkeHarris, from which to choose.