Shoot-out leaves a sour taste but squad’s depth leaves Sky Blues in a good place
COVENTRY City went out of the FA Cup in the worst way possible, knocked out in a penalty shootout.
Having twice had the lead against Championship side Birmingham City, the Sky Blues were left to rue missed opportunities in front of goal as the game ran into extra-time before being decided on spot-kicks.
Here’s some of the big talking points n and what we learned from a night of high drama at St Andrew’s.
n If all else fails, blame Gary
The story of the two ties was the fact that the Sky Blues had come so near and yet so far from progressing through to the last 16 – thwarted on three occasions by stoppage-time drama.
First Callum O’Hare’s added time miss to snatch what should have been victory in the first encounter before Harlee Dean’s 90+2 equaliser sent the replay into extra-time.
And finally, Jeremie Bela’s freak cross that levelled the scores for a second time in the 120th minute to ensure the contest would be settled on penalties.
The final scoreline and lottery climax, meanwhile, had been predicted by local hero Gary McSheffrey who was interviewed on the pitch at halftime when the score was 0-0.
“I’m going for 2-2 after extra-time to take it to penalties,” said the retired forward, sitting firmly on the fence when asked how he saw the remainder of the game panning out between his two former clubs. Thanks Gary! Penalty injustice
The shootout left a bit of a sour taste given the fact that it was carried out in front of what had been an empty Tilton Road Stand behind the goal.
However, as soon as Marko Marosi set off to take up his position to face the first spot-kick, the Blues fans surged round the stadium from their Kop Stand vantage point during the course of the game to take up position in their thousands, promptly setting about trying to intimidate the keeper and City’s designated penalty takers.
“It is what it is,” commented Mark Robins in a fairly matter of fact way when asked about the incident. But the truth of the matter is, had the Sky Blues taken their chances when they arose in open play then the tie would have been out of sight well before the harsh decider.
The best fell to fans’ favourite Max Biamou who put the first over the bar and second wide at the near post in the second half of normal time, while Jamie Allen was denied in extra-time by the toe of shootout hero Lee Camp who saved two from Liam Walsh and Allen to send Blues through. n Depth on display
Mark Robins once again showed his squad’s strength in depth by making a whopping six changes to his side on a night when he utilised four from the bench over the course of the 120 minutes.
And each and every one played their part as the Sky Blues went toe-to-toe with their Championship landlords, giving them one heck of a fright by twice taking the lead at St Andrew’s.
It was particularly encouraging to see Zain Westbrooke and Jordan Shipley do their bit before making way for the equally impressive Callum O’Hare and Jamie Allen, while Liam Walsh – who was initially rested on the bench on a night when the manager showed his side’s tactical versatility by switching to 3-5-2, that often looked more like 3-4-1-2 with Westbrooke operating behind the front two – added a bit of quality late on when he went on for Liam Kelly.
B&B (Bakayoko and Biamou) also impressed ahead of first choice Matty Godden who provided a late cameo from the bench, having a hand in City’s second goal.
Throw in the fact that Josh Pask slotted into the back three for Michael Rose, who was feeling his hamstring, and Brandon Mason replaced ineligible Sam McCallum at left wing-back, not to mention the prospect of new loan signing Ryan Giles being available for the weekend, and Robins has