Coventry earned a vital League Two win against Wycombe
MICHAEL Doyle scored either ‘an absolute freak’ or a ‘sublime shot’ depending on who you were supporting but his 40-yarder ended up being crucial as Coventry leapfrogged Wycombe in League Two.
Doyle opened the scoring after 14 minutes on Friday night with a first-time shot from long, long range, wide out on the left, which caught out Chairboys keeper Scott Brown.
That was only the start of a drama-filled encounter which saw both sides score from the spot and Wycombe boss Gareth Ainsworth call out the standard of the Ricoh Arena pitch.
He said: “We couldn’t play, this pitch is really bad. We have a total contrast at Adams Park to this. It was very difficult to get the ball down and play.
“We made the decision to try to go forward early. Obviously it didn’t look pretty but I think Coventry did the same. The surface is tough to play on.”
Despite the poor surface there was no shortage of entertainment. Coventry had already missed one chance before Doyle was first to a loose ball and unleashed his shot.
Coventry manager Mark Robins said: “We moved the ball well and ended up taking the lead with a sublime shot that Doyle has been working on in training!”
Ainsworth disagreed, adamant it was just a cross that got lucky. The Wycombe boss was probably right.
Marc McNulty then doubled the lead four minutes before half-time, turning an injured Anthony Stewart inside and out before bending it past Brown.
Wycombe’s response came deep into first-half stoppage time, Dan Scarr scoring his first professional goal as he chested down a clearing header and volleyed home left-footed from 20 yards.
It got even better for Wycombe when Devon KellyEvans brought down Nathan Tyson just four minutes after coming on, Joe Jacobson firing home the resulting penalty.
Then followed controversy when Luke O’Nien was penalised for bringing down McNulty, with the striker picking himself up to fire home what proved to be the winner, leaving Ainsworth fuming.
“Luke swore blind that he hasn’t touched the guy. He says he’s gone down under no contact and if that’s the case we’ve been done,” he said.
McNulty was later booked for a dive when in for his hat-trick but Robins is just happy to be putting pressure on the rest of the play-off chasing pack.
He said: “It’s the first time we have had a game that has seen us move up the table and overtaking Wycombe who were in fourth, so it puts us in a really good position.
“It might put a bit of pressure on others but I don’t care because it’s all about us and we can start to build that momentum now and
keep it going.”