COVENTRY ROCHDALE WON & ONLY
Walsh’s solo stunner clinches victory
LIAM WALSH shot Coventry into third spot with an outstanding individual goal which had Mark Robins beaming with delight.
Walsh’s 72nd- minute solo strike was sheer brilliance after the midfielder took the ball from in his own half and dribbled past three players before driving his shot home.
Sky Blues boss Robins said: “I thought it might take something special to win the game – and that certainly was.
“To pick it up from where he did and just keep going with challenges coming in left, right a n d centre w a s absolutely outstanding. That goal will live long in the memory of anyone here today and it’s probably our goal of the season already.
“It was genius to go past people like that – pure genius.
“I can’t tell you how delighted I am. I think that’s our biggest three points of the season.”
Rochdale clearly weren’t going to l et Coventry’s impressive recent run play too heavily on their minds and settled down wel l after weathering an early storm.
It was the Sky Blues, sixmatches unbeaten, who made the early inroads and probably felt they should be leading when they suddenly got a jolt and found themselves behind.
■ Rochdale striker Ian Henderson has scored 29 League One goals since the start of last term, more than any other player in the competition in this time.
Debut boy Declan Drysdale flashed an angled header just wide of the mark with only three minutes on the clock and Walsh bent a 20- yarder just wide shortly afterwards.
But Coventry got the jitters for a brief period and the visitors made them pay with a cleverly worked 28th-minute goal.
Callum Camps slid a beautifully-weighted pass across the box to find Ian Henderson and the Dale skipper gave it the finishing touch it deserved.
But three minutes before the break the Sky Blues were level when a superb ball from Zain Westbrooke put Jordan Shipley in on goal with just Robert Sanchez to beat.
The keeper didn’t put up stern enough resistance and when he handed Shipley a second bite the Coventry man bundled the ball home. Then came a glaring
COVENTRY ROCHDALE 7 ........ Shots on Target .........3 13 .......Shots off Target .........6 6 ................Corners .................8 7 .................. Fouls ....................6 1 ................ Offsides ..................1 80.8 ..Passing Success % ....74.2 499 ....Total Passes % ....... 411 54.8 .......Possession ........45.2 55.9..Territorial Adv % ... 44.1 miss from Amadou Bakayoko a yard out. The striker got his feet in a tangle and somehow managed to clear the ball and was left clutching his head in his hands – but Walsh spared him a sleepless night with his stunner.
Dale boss Brian BarryMurphy said: “We can take a lot away from that. We created chance after chance in the first half. My judgement won’t be clouded by two pieces of quality from Coventry.”