WEMBLEY JOY FOR COVENTRY
New dad Gael lifts crisis club
IT WAsn’T quite Keith Houchen, 1987 and all that, but victory was celebrated deliriously by Coventry City all the same. This Checkatrade Trophy triumph was an oasis of unbridled joy amid a season of turmoil, misery and strife.
A win at Wembley — 30 years on from Coventry’s finest hour in the FA Cup final against Tottenham — seemed incongruous in a season that has seen fierce protests against hated owners sisu and will surely end with relegation to the fourth tier for the first time since 1959.
And yet here were 45,000 sky Blues fans celebrating without a care in the world as goals from gael Bigirimana and george Thomas defeated Oxford.
It had already been quite the weekend for Bigirimana, whose wife natalia gave birth to daughter eden in the early hours of saturday, and he was the hero at both ends here after being a doubtful starter at one point.
His 11th-minute opener, an instinctive finish into the bottom corner after stuart Beavon’s overhead kick deflected off Oxford defender Chey Dunkley into his path, set Coventry on their way.
But it also needed Bigirimana’s goalline clearance from Phil edwards’ shot in the sixth minute of stoppage time to make sure of victory. ‘I’ve got a beautifulamazing, and baby this girl,is the whichicing onis the cake,’ said an emotional Bigirimana afterwards.
‘Hopefully this will be a gamechanger for the club.’
Coventry’s decisive goal came from the impressive george Thomas, who scored with a crisp volley after cushioning Kyel reid’s cross early in the second half.
‘Words can’t explain this, you couldn’t write it,’ said Thomas. ‘ The season’s been full of ups and downs — but to end it on this…’
Oxford gave a poor account of themselves but rallied late on when Liam sercombe rifled home through a crowded penalty box. And they might have forced extra time with a flurry of late chances, but Coventry showed steel. If they go down to League Two — and with a 13-point deficit to make up, it’s a near certainty that they will — it will at least be in a blaze of glory. Manager Mark robins said: ‘It was really important to show the world that we are still alive and kicking. The reality is that it is a difficult situation but all we can do is keep going and put in performances.’ Oxford boss Michael Appleton said: ‘We were a little bit too reactive. Coventry had a hunger and desire to keep the ball out of the net more than we did.’