Coventry City's followers have to be pretty satisfied by the progress
made by the club during their first season at the Ricoh Arena. A year
ago the club finished the season in nineteenth position with 52 points,
only two points above the relegation zone and never got above 16th place
all season. The final position of 8th is very heartening especially if
you consider that on November 22 after the defeat at Selhurst Park the
team were lying in 22nd place.
I believe that one of the key reasons for more consistency was that only
31 players were used, the lowest number in any of the past five seasons.
Ten of these players were on loans or short term contracts and there
were only five new contracted players. In the five campaigns since
relegation in 2001, the Sky Blues have used a total of 117 different
players! By comparison Jimmy Hill during his five-year stint as manager
in the 1960s used only 45 players.
The full list of appearances and goal scorers is as follows: -
SEE TABLE
Goals: The goals scored total of 62 was only one more than last season's
61 but five short of the tally under Gary McAllister/Eric Black in
2003-04. The 39 home goals was not only the best the club have achieved
since relegation to the second tier but also the club's best since
1978-79 when Ian Wallace and Mick Ferguson were in their prime.
Wins: City's performances at the Arena have been excellent and 43 of the
team's points came from the 23 home games (the highest since 1986-87
when the team won 46 home points from 21 games). Twelve home wins
equalled the best since that same season (they also won 12 at home in
1999-2000 and 2001-02). The run of 12 unbeaten home league games between
November and April equalled the best run since 1979 when they were
unbeaten in 13. The away form was poor however - four wins being the
worst total since relegation in 2001.
Biggest win: The biggest victory was 6-1 over Derby in January. It
equalled the team's biggest home league win since 1963 when Shrewsbury
were beaten 8-1 in a Third Division game. (They did beat Sunderland 6-1
in 1982). All four away wins were by a single goal.
Biggest defeat: City lost by four clear goals on two occasions (at
Burnley and Watford). 4-1 defeats were endured at Crewe and at home to
Crystal Palace.
Leading scorers: For the third season running Gary McSheffrey topped
City's goalscoring charts. He netted 17 goals (15 League, 1 FA Cup and 1
League Cup) from 48 starts and three were from the penalty spot. Dele
Adebola was second top scorer with 12 goals (all league) whilst Stern
John ended the season with 11 goals (10 League and 1 FA Cup) - an
impressive haul from 25 starts. It meant that for the first time in 26
years City had three players in double figures in league games. On the
last occasion, in 1979-80, Ian Wallace scored 13 goals, Mick Ferguson 10
and Tommy English 10.
Doubles: City did the double over two teams - QPR and Luton. Two clubs,
Crystal Palace and Preston achieved the feat against City.
Appearances: No Coventry player was an ever present. Michael Doyle, for
the second season running made the most league appearances with 44
starts (his two non-appearances were when he was suspended). Gary
McSheffrey played 43 games and, like Doyle, only missed games through
suspension. Three players made just one league appearance, Clayton Ince
(at Leicester), Youssef Sofiane, a triallist, played 45 minutes as a
substitute against Palace at home and Ben Turner played about one minute
at Stoke as a sub. In addition to the 31 players used, four more,
goalkeeper Jonathan Tuffey and youngsters Craig Reid, Ryan Lynch and
Luke Webb sat on the bench as substitutes but were not used.
Records: Richard Shaw took his total appearances for the Sky Blues to
362, becoming the 7th highest appearance maker in the club's history.
McSheffrey reached the 50-goal milestone for the club and by the end of
the season had scored 52, leaving him 16th in the club's all-time
scorers chart.
Substitutes: Andy Morrell broke Patrick Suffo's record of 22 substitute
appearances in a season by coming on 27 times, including ten successive
games early in the season. Ironically each of the three goals he scored
were when he started a game. City substitutes scored six goals with
Dennis Wise and Don Hutchison both netting twice after coming off the
bench.
Average attendance: Home 22,211 (2004-05 16,131). Away 16,860 (2004-05
17,025). The home average attendance increased by over 31% and was the
highest since 1978-79 season.
Highest home attendance: 26,856 v Wolves, 2 January. This was City's
biggest home league crowd since the visit of Liverpool in August 1987
attracted 27,509. City had 16 20,000 plus crowds. The visit of
Middlesbrough in the FA Cup attracted an even bigger crowd - 28,120 was
the largest crowd in any competition since 1981 when the League Cup
semi-final with West Ham was watched by 35,411.
Lowest home attendance: 16,197 v Millwall, 10 December.
Highest away attendance: 25,355 v Norwich, 6 August. For the first time
since 1967 (when 51,455 saw the Wolves game) the club's highest home
gate was bigger than the highest away crowd.
Lowest away attendance: 6,529 v Brighton, 17 September.
Won from behind: (3) Plymouth (h), Derby (h), Hull (a). The 2-2 draw at
Ipswich was the first time in nine years that the team had come from 0-2
down to draw. Later they repeated the feat at Wolves.
Lost from in front: (3) Sheffield United (a), Leicester (a), Stoke (h).
Stoke remain the only side to come from behind at the Ricoh Arena.
Firsts: The home defeat to Hull was the first in the league to the
Tigers since 1962. The win at QPR was the first league victory there
since 1987 and the first ever away win on Sky TV. The 0-2 defeat at
Reading was City's first defeat at the Madejski in four visits.
Hat-tricks: (0) Stern John came closest in the Derby game but was denied
his trick by penalty king McSheffrey. Adebola and Wise both also scored
braces.
Opposing hat-tricks: (1) Vincent Pericard of Plymouth scored all three
goals in Argyle's 3-1 win at Home Park. Amazingly Pericard scored only
one other goal for Argyle in 14 games.
Own goals: For City: (2) Brighton's Paul McShane in the 2-2 draw at the
Withdean and Wolves' Joleon Lescott in the New Year game at the Ricoh.
Own goals: By City: (1) Adie Williams at Reading.
Penalties: For City: (4) Gary McSheffrey (3) (Sheff Wed a, QPR a, Derby
h), and Don Hutchison (1) (Southampton a). There was one missed penalty
- McSheffrey at Leeds.
Penalties: Against City: (4) David Unsworth (Sheff United a), Chris
Blunt (Sheff Wed a), Graham Alexander (Preston a), David Healy (Leeds
h). Gifton Noel-Williams (Burnley a) and Leroy Lita (Reading h) were the
only opponents to miss penalties.
Fastest Goal scored: Adebola 2 minutes v Watford (h).
Fastest Goal conceded: Andrews 58 seconds v Crystal Palace (a)
Most unlikely hero: When Dennis Wise appeared against Derby County in
January he became the oldest City debutant of all-time. Dennis aged 39
years 37 days broke the record set by Gordon Strachan who was 38 years
64 days. During the game 'Wisey' became the oldest goalscorer in the
club's history.
Man of the match awards: 7 McSheffrey, 6 Doyle, 4 Adebola, 3 Hutchison,
Hall, Fulop, Page, 2 Wise, Bywater, Thornton, Williams, Hughes, Shaw, 1
Osbourne, Scowcroft, Nalis, Flood.
Red cards: Coventry: (4) Hughes (Burnley a), Heath (Sheff United a),
Jorgensen (Crystal Palace h) and Doyle (Crewe h).
Red cards: Opponents: (6) Serioux (Millwall a), Shittu (QPR h), Lynch
(Hull h), Lawrence (Millwall h), Royce (QPR a), Kisnorbo (Leicester h).
Cup form: Whilst the club failed to reach the fifth round for the
seventh season running they did at least win away in the competition.
The 1-0 win at Brighton was the first away win since 2001. The draw with
Middlesbrough in round four was the first time they have avoided defeat
against a Premiership club since they were relegated in 2001 but
ultimately it was the sixth successive Cup exit to a top flight club.
JIM BROWN