Coventry are emerging from the darkness
VICTORY in an FA Cup classic and a trip to Wembley would be more than enough for most clubs but Coventry City have their eyes on an even bigger prize.
The Championship club will face Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-finals next month after their remarkable win over Wolves courtesy of stoppage-time goals from Ellis Simms and Haji Wright.
It is the first time they have reached Wembley in this competition since they lifted the trophy in 1987, but the more significant year for Coventry is 2001. That was when they were relegated from the top flight and they have not been back since.
With an ambitious and hands- on owner in Doug King and an excellent manager in Mark Robins, they believe they are on track to change that.
Coventry’s existence has been in doubt more than once in the last two decades. They have had to play home games at Northampton and Birmingham and were in League Two five years ago. Now they feel as though they have emerged from this period of darkness and the Premier League seems tantalisingly close.
They are four points adrift of a play-off spot with a game in hand and are desperate for another crack at the elite level. Because this is a big club.
Even though they compete for supporters with Leicester, Aston Villa and Birmingham, Coventry’s average attendance is close to 25,000 at the CBS Arena. Memories of that 3-2 win over Tottenham at Wembley in 1987 are everywhere you turn. The snag is that they do not own their own ground but changing that is among King’s top priorities.
King revealed: ‘I said to the manager, “The FA Cup is what we’ve done. It’s our biggest ever success. I fancy this. Let’s go and have a run”.
‘The draw has been quite kind to us but you’ve still got to win them. Wolves was our biggest challenge and we succeeded. What happened will stay with us for a very long time.
‘You have got to knock on the door a few times before you get in. I’ve been consistent in that.
‘Here we are in eighth in the Championship and are trying to get in again. If you do the right things and you do them professionally, hopefully we can get one moment when you get out.’
Coventry were big market movers in the second tier last summer as they reinvested the £35million they received for selling Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer to Sporting Lisbon and Sheffield United respectively.
Simms and Wright cost a combined £14m — serious money in the post-Covid era and part of a £30m recruitment drive across the last two windows. Their prize pot for this run is guaranteed to top £1m even before TV money is factored in.
‘There are defining moments in your career, moments you can refer back to, and the Wolves game should be one of those for the players,’ said Robins.
‘It should give them all the confidence in the world to carry that out for the rest of the season and beyond. The owner asked for a Cup run but he also asked for three play-off appearances in five seasons and in one of those we have to try to get lucky.
‘There is still a lot to do and a lot to build, but that is fine. There are a lot of demands placed by owners on managers, players and staff but we have to keep doing things methodically.’
Wolves forward Matheus Cunha is targeting a return straight after the international break as Gary O’Neil seeks to ease his team’s injury crisis. Cunha, Pedro Neto and Hwang Hee- chan are all sidelined with Neto likely to miss the remainder of the campaign with a hamstring injury.
Wolves have been without Cunha, 24, since February 10 and he will not figure for Brazil against England later this month, but he is recovering quicker than expected from his own hamstring problem and could feature at Aston Villa on March 30.
Wolves allowed forwards Fabio Silva and Sasa Kalajdzic to leave on loan in January. Neither is rated highly by O’Neil and Kalajdzic has had another serious knee injury on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt, but their departures mean Wolves have had to turn to Nathan Fraser, the 19- year- old homegrown forward who does not look ready for this level.
The club could not do serious transfer business in January as they would have risked breaking spending rules and it has left them thin on the ground as they push for European football.
O’Neil said: ‘We can continue to punch above expectation but sometimes your situation catches up with you. you
‘I hope when the emotion of how close we were to Wembley Wem dies down, we will wil realise how well we w have done to get where w we are. We have 41 points in the league and we were three minutes from an FA Cup semi-final.’
WOLVES (3-1-4-2): Sa 7.5; Kilman 6, S Bueno 5, Toti 6 (Doherty 60min, 6); Doyle 6.5 (H Bueno 3, 6); Semedo 6.5, Gomes 6, Lemina 6.5, Ait-Nouri7 ; Sarabia 5.5, Fraser 5 (Chiwome 60, 6).
Scorers: Ait-Nouri 83, H Bueno 88. Booked: Ait-Nouri, Sarabia.
Manager: Gary O’Neil 6.
COVENTRY (4-2-3-1): Collins 6.5; Latibeaudiere 6.5 (Tavares 90), THOMAS 8, Kitching , Bidwell ; Sheaf , Eccles (Torp 90); Van Ewijk .5, Palmer (O’Hare 0, 6), Wright .5; Simms . Scorers: Simms 53, 90+ , Wright 90+10. Booked: Palmer.
Manager: Mark Robins 8.
Referee: Sam Barrott 6.5.
Attendance: 31,262.