SKY BLUE THINKING

After years of turmoil, Coventry get their day in the sun and can start looking up again. It’s...

WHEN THE final whistle was blown at the Ricoh Arena, Michael Doyle allowed himself a minute to reflect.

At 36 years old, Doyle can recall when Coventry’s home stadium would regularly get handsome attendances. This momentous win over Stoke, played in a raucous atmosphere created by more than 14,000 fans, gave a glimpse of what might be possible.

‘I took a step back after the game just to see the ground the way it was,’ Coventry’s veteran midfielder said. ‘It’s been hard to play here in the league because the crowds haven’t been as big.

‘The atmosphere goes to show what we can do again. It was brilliant. We’ve got to use days like this to our advantage, try to get people back to the club, then go up through the divisions.’

In Doyle’s first campaign at Coventry 14 seasons ago, the club finished 12th in the Championship, one place behind Stoke and ahead of Watford and Burnley.

Now Coventry are playing in the fourth tier of English football for the first time in 50 years, but manager Mark Robins is leading a promotion challenge.

Stoke’s Mark Hughes picked a strong side and sent on Xherdan Shaqiri, Maxim Choupo-Moting and Peter Crouch in a bid to save his club from embarrassment and himself from the sack.

That he failed to do so was down to Coventry’s composure and Robins deserves great credit.

Last April, 30 years on from the club’s most famous day, Robins gave more than 40,000 fans a Wembley trip to remember in the EFL Trophy final, beating Oxford. Given Saturday’s Premier League opposition, this was a more substantial, surprising performance.

Jordan Willis, 23, scored Coventry’s opening goal and threw his body in the way when Stoke surged late on. Jack Grimmer, also 23 and signed on a free transfer last summer, produced a moment of inspiration to beat Jack Butland from distance and win the contest.

Tom Bayliss, 18 and another local lad, was instrumental in midfield. Marc McNulty, 25, was a threat up top. There are reasons for Coventry supporters to be positive once more.

‘We’re desperate to go up, we’re desperate to do Coventry proud,’ Robins said. ‘There is a feel-good factor at the minute with the City of Culture announcement and the football team performing well.

‘If we can get another good draw, away from home, then that helps financially. For me to be able to compete in the transfer market, it’s vital I get that revenue.

‘We need to put more days on like this to keep the fans interested and coming to watch.’

Willis had headed Coventry into a half-time lead through a wellworked corner routine practised with coach Adi Viveash.

‘On the training field Adi said he was going to issue a few fines if the back four didn’t start chipping in with goals,’ Willis said. The defender also conceded a penalty early in the second period, from which Charlie Adam scored Stoke’s equaliser.

But Coventry kept looking for another goal and found it through Grimmer. ‘The amount of chances we’d created up to that point had given us massive confidence, so we knew all we had to do was create another one and take it, and thankfully we did,’ said Willis, one of a number of Coventry’s academy graduates giving the side a real sense of identity.

‘It does make it sweeter,’ he said. ‘There are a few in the team who I’ve come through with. The talent they’ve got is great, people such as Tom Bayliss and Ben Stevenson. So the academy has got to take credit.’

Almost to a man, Coventry’s players wish for a plum away draw in the fourth round. Grimmer faced Manchester United in the FA Cup for Shrewsbury last February, having scored the winner in the previous round.

‘Hopefully that is an omen,’ said Grimmer. ‘Being a Man United fan, it would be nice to get another go and this time to be able to land a punch on them. Last time they schooled us for 90 minutes. With this squad, if we got them again it could be a closer match.’

That prospect is mouthwatering because Coventry were certainly well worth this famous victory.

‘It has been well-documented that the club has had its issues,’ said Grimmer. ‘This was a day to give back to the fans.’