Coventry City U23’s 4-1 Colchester United
City U23's: Addai, Thompson, Williams (Green 71), Hyam, Mason, Eccles (Burroughs 88), Ogogo, Andreu, Hickman (Ngandu 88), Bakayoko, Jones. Subs: Bilson, Ford, McCallum.
Colchester: Ross, Anderson, (Agboola 61), Kazeem, Birse, Kensdale, Forino , Chilvers, Cornish (Dubbe 71), Jones, Charles (McKeown 68), Hamilton. Subs: Sims, Hallet.
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Sometimes, a 4-1 win does not reflect the superiority of one of the teams and today was one of those days as Coventry City U23’s beat Colchester United 4-1.
Jason Farndon was able to name a strong side for this game at the Ricoh Arena on an afternoon of cold and drizzle.
City started brightly but went a goal down in the 16th minute when a Brandon Mason header went to a U’s player. A shot came in which struck Corey Addai’s left hand post and Callum Jones was on hand to dispatch the loose ball into the net.
The Sky Blues were behind for a matter of a minute as they went straight up the other end where Tony Andreu found Amadou Bakayoko who finished low into the bottom corner of the net.
Every City player was putting in a shift. Jodi Jones was always a threat, Andreu and Eccles worked hard in midfield along side Ogogo and Hickman who combined to put City 2-1 up in the 32nd minute. The goal came about thanks to some good work by Ogogo who in turn squared for Jak Hickman to finish smartly from inside the area.
Corey Addai was confidently dealing with what Colchester threw at him, once they had got past the excellent Dominic Hyam and Morgan Williams, who was putting in some crunching tackles, whilst at the other end, Bakayoko shot high and wide when through and headed a down a 42nd minute Andreu shot before Mason won a corner that saw Williams come in to power a head which was only inches wide of the target.
The floodlights were on for a second half which saw Hickman with a 49th minute run and shot across the goal, a cracking cross but a poor Bakayoko header and then a 51st minute header wide.
Tony Andreu had one shot on the turn saved but in the 58th minute, was left alone on the edge of the area to get in a shot which flew into the net to see the Sky Blues 3-1 up as the drizzle got worse in a game where the visitors few chances were only coming due to the failure of the City players to either retain the ball or find a team mate with a pass.
A Bakayoko step over drew a whoop from some of the City support in a sparse crowd which had some more to cheer about in the 69th minute when Abu Ogogo had his shot saved and Bakayoko tapped in for City’s fourth.
Jones had a 70th minute shot parried away for City who could have been eight or nine goals to the good, especially when Bakayoko fired over from a great Andreu ball with six minutes remaining.
A brilliant one handed save from Addai to deny a Kai Hamilton and send the ball over for a corner, ensured that there would be no more goals for the visitors, whose keeper did well to grab on the line in the 86th minute after Jones had won a corner.
Jack Burroughs and Jonny Ngandu got a late run out for a City U23’s team who travel to Crystal Palace next Monday and one which can enjoy a well-deserved team victory after this 4-1 romp.
Pictures copyright of CNS Sport. Credit CNS/KM