City come within O’hare’s breadth of victory!
IT’S OH SO CLOSE FOR CALLUM IN GRANDSTAND FINISH AS SKY BLUES HOLD THEIR OWN AGAINST HIGH-FLYING SWANSEA
CITY staged a grandstand finish in search of a winner last night – with Callum O’hare’s header going agonisingly wide – as Mark Robins’ men claimed an honourable draw against high-flying Swansea City.
The Sky Blues matched the visitors every step of the way, starting and ending the game on the front foot to give further evidence that they can hold their own at this level.
They got at their opponents from the get-go with bags of energy and determined possession in arguably their best start to a game since moving up to the Championship.
And that was confirmed in the 19th minute when the Sky Blues took a deserved lead from a terrific move and lovely finish from the boot of Jordan Shipley.
Matty Godden set up the goal after attacking down the right flank, cutting in towards the box and pulling the ball back to tee it up beautifully for the midfielder to hit a powerful first time strike with his left boot that had the keep diving to his right.
But it flew beyond his reach, thumped the inside of the post and bounced in.
The home side continued to look good on their lead until the 40 minute mark when Marko Marosi was called into action for the first time, punching clear a threatening freekick.
But two minutes later the ball was in the back of the net when Andre Ayew raced into the box and powered a low shot into the far bottom corner to ensure the two sides went in all square at the break.
City started the second half as they had the first, pushing forward and looking for a goal but the Swans gave a far better account of themselves as they began to enjoy periods of control execute their effective high press.
Shipley was forced off injured just after the hour, replaced by Liam Kelly, as Coventry continued to battle for a second goal – Callum O’hare going close when he went for a 50-50 with the keeper and the ball looped up over the bar.
Jamie Allen had the ball in the back of the net 11 minutes from time but the goal was disallowed for offside from the initial ball into the box and City finished the stronger of the two sides as Ryan Giles forced Freddie Woodman into a good save at his near post.
There were further chances for Giles who had a shot cleared off the line before Ben Sheaf set up O’hare who headed agonisingly wide at the far post in a hugely encouraging display.
Afterwards Mark Robins described his players as “outstanding” on the night.
“We played against two outstanding teams in Bournemouth and Brentford and then another one tonight, everything we did they’ve tried to put into practice what we’ve spoken about,” he said.
“They played with intensity and aggression, on the front foot, and they moved the ball pretty well.
“The speed was good, there was a scrappy spell of about 15 minutes in the second half, other than that I thought we were outstanding.
“We gave them a real scare and they’re a good team. They’ve just finished in the play-offs, so it’s got to give us a lot of confidence.
“There was one move that was one-touch stuff all the way into the penalty area that led to Callum O’hare’s chance.
“The only disappointing thing is that we haven’t kept a clean sheet, we’ve conceded a scrappy, poor, goal.
“When you’ve got the quality that these teams possess, Andre Ayew doesn’t miss the target, it’s in the back of the net. But they’ve had one chance and they scored it.”
Robins challenged his players to show more belief and confidence after back-to-back defeats against Bournemouth and Brentford.
“I thought we were much better,” he said.
“I’m delighted with them and we’re disappointed that we haven’t gone on to win it because Callum’s had a great chance at the end and we had Ryan Giles’ shot before that.”
He added: “I’ve got to mention Matty Godden, what a performance that was from him, he didn’t really get a great deal in front of goal, but what a performance.”
“I’m delighted with them, there’s things that you can work on, but for confidence, I think it does them the world of good.
“Matty was brilliant. In everything we did he was a part of it.”
Robins knows, however, there’s still room for improvement, saying: “We still didn’t make the runs in behind him, that’s the next little bit.
“We’ve got to learn to try and anticipate where things might land and not wait but it was outstanding centre-forward play.
“I think we’re still finding our feet in terms of fitness. We’re still not there yet, some of them haven’t played for six months.
“But Sam Mccallum has put an unbelievable shift in, he did really well.”