United lose relegation six-pointer

COVENTRY UNITED 0 CHARLTON 2

ELLA Rutherford set up both goals as Charlton Athletic beat Coventry United 2-0 in a thrilling relegation six-pointer in the FA Women’s Championship.

Rutherford teed up Jess King and Lois Heuchan for decisive strikes as the Addicks pulled three points clear of United at the foot of the table.

The bottom side’s misery was compounded when Anna Wilcox was sent off for foul and abusive language in the latter stages at Butts Park Arena.

The Addicks dominated the first half with their best chance coming through Ellie Dorey, but her shot was well blocked by Wilcox after a flowing move involving Rutherford, King anped Emma Plewa.

It took just five minutes for the visitors to make their dominance tell after the break.

Rutherford slipped in King who cooly slotted past Coventry United captain Sue Wood in goal.

The hosts almost levelled three minutes later when Helen Dermedy crashed a free-kick off the crossbar and Destiny Toussaint couldn’t quite scramble home the rebound.

Charlton sealed the victory on 67 minutes when Rutherford rolled a low freekick into the path of Heuchan, the left-back wrapping her foot around the ball and finding the bottom-right corner.

Coventry’s disappointing afternoon was complete seven minutes before full time as Wilcox was given her marching orders for abusing referee Georgia Ball following the award of a free-kick.

Coventry United winger Destiny Toussaint said: “It’s a tough one. It’s frustrating, very, very frustrating.

“I thought the first half we played very well, we played some good football and we should have been more aggressive and took one or two chances in the first half which we didn’t. We went in at half time with a game plan and I don’t think we executed it very well. They scored in the second half and then I think our heads dropped and it just wasn’t good enough all over the pitch.”

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CALLUM Sheedy says Wales knew that England’s discipline would crack “if we could choke them enough” after he put the boot into Eddie Jones’ team.

England conceded a damaging 14 penalties in their 40-24 Guinness Six Nations defeat at the Principality Stadium.

And they imploded during the final quarter when substitute Sheedy kicked three penalties in nine minutes during a 16-point unanswered burst by Wales that meant Triple Crown glory and left them two wins away from a second Grand Slam in three seasons.

“It’s tough to say whether you are surprised teams give away penalties,” Bristol fly-half Sheedy said.

“It is like anything - if a team is under pressure, discipline starts to get a bit wavy.

“I haven’t watched the game back and whether they were, or were not, penalties. I don’t really care, to be honest.

“We knew if we could choke them enough, they would get ill-disciplined. Thankfully, that happened.”

While England begin to pick through the pieces of a Six Nations campaign in rubble, Wales march on with 14 points from a possible 15 in this season’s competition.

Tournament no-hopers Italy are next up on March 13, before Sheedy and company head to Paris for a Saturday night appointment with France seven days later.

Sheedy is just seven Tests into his international career, yet he has already proved an integral part of Wales’ armoury under head coach Wayne Pivac.

And the 25-year-old has been around long enough to understand that this season’s big Six Nations prizes are still to be achieved.

“Let’s take each game as it comes and not get carried away with Grand Slam chat,” he said.

“We will keep our feet firmly on the ground. We will enjoy the Triple Crown, and then a big week ahead of Italy.

“Grand Slam might be said in the public, but it won’t be said in the circle. (Captain) Alun Wyn Jones won’t let it.

“Al, I know for a fact, won’t let any complacency get into this squad, and rightly so.

“We haven’t done anything yet.”

A 10-MINUTE hat-trick from Saracens winger Alex Lewington gave the visitors an ultimately comfortable win over Coventry Rugby at Butts Park Arena on Friday night.

However it was another match of three quarters, as Cov were very much in the contest for the first 60 minutes before Saracens pulled away to seal the victory.

In many ways this was a mirror image of the reverse fixture at the Stonex Stadium six days previously, the one key difference being that while last week Cov were able to finish their chances they created in the five metre line, this week they only came away with two tries, a first half penalty try and an outstanding second half finish from Andy Forsyth.

Lewington’s trio of scores showcased his pace and running line, but there was equal impact from the visitors’ pack. Not only were they able to shut down Cov’s red zone efforts, but they were able to create scores of their own.

Juan Pablo Socino, Tim Swinson and Vincent Koch all crashed over from close range, the latter making amends for his earlier yellow card which had also brought Cov’s penalty try.

That’s not to say it was one-way traffic, nor that the forwards dominated the contest.

Cov had some superb moments after conceding Socino’s try, mixing their play and adapting nicely to the aggressive defence. They also set up camp a number of times in the visitors’ line, but while last week they had come away with three scores this week they were unable to complete the job as the visitors held firm, the penalty try aside.

The pack’s scrummaging was superb, too, and time and again they had the Saracens eight on the back foot. Koch’s score came on the stroke of half-time, which meant – in another parallel to last week – that Saracens had given them breathing space going into the sheds.

But Cov reacted superbly after the break, Louis Brown’s superb break up the left wing putting the hosts in the position from which Forsyth would score in the right corner, the centre powering through four defenders in the last 10 metres.

The 21-12 scoreline remained until the hour, but when Joel Kpoku’s offload put Callum Hunter-hill through a gap to eventually set up Tom Whiteley, the seven points gave the visitors some breathing space.

Then Lewington took over, all his tries coming in the final few minutes to add the gloss to the final score.

HERE are some of the big talking points from City’s 1-1 battling draw against Blackburn Rovers...

Own worst enemies

Given Rovers’ recent record of five straight defeats, it looked a good time to catch Tony Mowbray’s men on paper. And in the event, it was. City got at them early and the home side looked there for the taking – a shadow of the side that put ten-man Sky Blues to the sword 4-0 at St Andrew’s back in October.

Unfortunately, however, Mark Robins’ men continued their habit of gifting the opposition goals with yet another horrendous example of defending. A long ball down the line saw right-back Ryan Nyambe steal the march on Sam Mccallum to pull the ball back into the box where Dom Hyam failed to make what should have been a routine clearance, leaving the ball to run to Ben Brereton to smash home.

Yes, Barry Douglas hit the post and Adam Armstrong was denied by the boot of Ben Wilson, but other than that the Lancashire side failed to trouble City’s keeper.

Squad rotation

Taking into account Blackburn’s poor form, it was all the more surprising that Robins dropped two of his star men, Gus Hamer and Callum O’hare, who were among the subs at Ewood Park.

That opened the door for Coventry Kid Jordan Shipley to come back into the side for the first time since he started against Norwich earlier in the month.

But for all his hard work and hand in the goal, having combined nicely with Mccallum who put the ball into the box for Walker to knockdown and James to score, City lacked the energy and guile that O’hare and Hamer offer.

The pair eventually went on for the last 20 minutes as City went looking for a winner, with Robins revealing that the reason they had been left out from the start was because he felt they needed a rest.

If they return refreshed tomorrow night it will have been a good decision but it doesn’t stop you wondering what might have been had they been on from the start.

Kelly and James partnered for the first time

The team changes meant Liam Kelly and Matty James started their first game together for the Sky Blues as the manager added vital experience to the middle of the park.

Skipper Kelly had been starting ahead of James since his return from injury, with the Leicester City loan man going on as a like-for-like replacement in the second halves of games. But against Blackburn the two were partnered together in midfield and James played his part in the point when he popped up with an early second half equaliser after being in the right place at the right time to get on the end of a Tyler Walker knock-down.

And it was an excellent finish from the 29-year-old ‘Fox’ in the box – the goal coming as his first in almost four and a half years.

Another costly dismissal

With Hamer and O’hare thrown on as City went in search of a winner, it felt like the momentum was building for the Sky Blues, only to evaporate when they were reduced to ten men with eight minutes remaining.

It was all the more frustrating given the manner of the two yellow cards picked up by Leo Ostigard – his first after he reacted angrily following an alleged stamp by centrehalf Darragh Lenihan – with Robins revealing afterwards he had the stud marks to prove it.

While a natural reaction, that indiscipline was then punished when he committed a professional and needless foul on Adam Armstrong on the halfway line as the former City loan star looked set to show him a clean pair of heels.

Robins felt there was nothing in it but, in all honesty, it looked a clear and ultimately costly foul.

Opportunity knocks for Rose

Ostigard’s sending off opens the door for his central defensive rival Michael Rose to return to the side.

Rewind to October when the two sides last met, it was Rose who saw red to hand the Brighton loan defender his opportunity to impress on the right of the back three.

Ostigard has got better and better as the season has gone on and his aerial dominance and alert defending will be a miss against Middlesbrough tomorrow night, not to mention his threat from set-pieces.

But Rose will no doubt be desperate to prove that he deserves a run in the side. Billed by Robins as his ‘best’ defender, an in-form Rose will be a real boost for the last 13 games of the campaign.