Life’s a pitch for Cov boss Pressley
CLEAN sheets have been tough to come by for Coventry this season – but judging by the state of the Ricoh Arena pitch, there might be a few more stalemates to come, by boss Steven Pressley’s own admission.
The pitch cut up badly in the second half, although that ended up playing into the Sky Blues’ hands after being outplayed by Walsall in the first period.
And with rugby side Wasps due to begin their groundshare next month, Pressley is becoming increasingly concerned with the roughshod Ricoh surface.
He said:“It’s terrible. It’s very, very difficult for the players to keep their balance – their feet are going away from them all the time.
“And the worrying thing is the rugby is coming and it’s already bad enough.
“It’s going to be a nightmare for the rest of the season. It’s not ideal but we’ll have to find a way to deal with it.”
Pitch problems aside, Pressley was delighted to see City – who went into the game with one of the worst defensive records in the division – prove the equals of clean sheet specialists Walsall.
He added:“Walsall have the best defensive record in the league and you can see why.They are a very solid outfit, difficult to break down and, in the second half, threw their bodies on the line.
“I thought we were unfortunate not to win the game but the encouraging thing is that it’s our third clean sheet in four games which gives us something to build from.”
Having been second best all of the first half, two key moments went against City just before the break as, first, a penalty appeal was waved away when striker Gary Madine seemed to be held back by Andy Taylor.
Then, right on the stroke of half-time, Sky Blues’ skipper Jim O’Brien’s goalbound header was saved by full-stretch Saddlers keeper Richard O’Donnell. Before that,Walsall had been firmly on top but did not work Coventry keeper Ryan Allsop until early in the second half when he saved at close range from Jordan Cook.
City bossed the latter stages of the game but O’Donnell saved well from Madine’s 40-yard lob and John Fleck’s low strike to ensure a ninth clean sheet in 19 league games for Walsall.
Boss Dean Smith said:“It was probably a fair result but we should have won the game in the first half.
“We had to defend a lot of corners and balls into the box in the second half and Madine is a handful.
“Our defensive record has been excellent and I’m pleased with where we are moving to as we look a hard team to beat.
“The second half was always going to be a bit of a slog just the way the pitch is. It looked draining on both sets of players.”