COVENTRY CITY RESERVES 1-1 PORTSMOUTH RESERVES BY KEV MONKS
A goal from Bjarni Gudjonsson earned City Reserves a point against Portsmouth.Another Point For City Reserves
With Portsmouth not arriving until eleven minutes before the scheduled start time of 7pm due to the traffic, the 55 City supporters which did not include the village idiot were forced to stand around on a freezing cold night until the game kicked off at 7.19pm.
Steve Ogrizovic had made five changes to the City team beaten 4-1 at home by Southampton one week ago whilst the one known Portsmouth player of note was keeper Harald Wapenaar.
Portsmouth,attacking the Cock 'N' Bear end at Manor Park were straight on the attack with Daryl Fordyce flashing a header wide in the third minute.
Less than a minute later, the visitors won a corner which knocked to the far post for Anthony Pulis to get in a header which Scott Shearer grabbed.
Playing a 4-3-3 formation with Patrick Suffo supported by Graham Barrett and Claus Jorgensen up, City were finding their feet and were almost ahead when a stunning 25 yard strike from the Cameroonian crashed against the underside of the crossbar and bounced down before being hacked away by a covering defender.
With Craig Pead at right back doing a sterling job stopping the Pompey attacks, the Sky Blues won an 18th minute corner. Bjarni Gudjonsson who feels that he should be back in the first team set-up took the flag kick but hit it too hard and right back Calum Angus was able to clear away.
A youthful Portsmouth side won a 23rd minute free kick on the edge of the area. Chris Clark took the kick and conjured up a shot which bounced down off the crossbar. Richard Duffy was first to the rebound but could only head wide of Scott Shearer's left hand post.
In the 27th minute, City won a corner. Again Gudjonsson took the kick. This time he found Suffo who knocked back for the confidence lacking Neil Wood to hit a tame shot at Wapenaar.
The kick from the visitors custodian was not a good one and the ball was back at the feet of Suffo who tried his luck from thirty yards with a low effort that missed the left hand post by a good few feet.
James Keene and Liam Horsted were proving a handful for the City defence and in the 35th minute, Keene saw his close range effort saved by Shearer and three minutes later, found space down the left flank to whip the ball across the face of the goal.
A free kick to Coventry followed and the kick taken by Wood was knocked on by the ever improving Rikki Bains and cleared away for a corner. When the Icelander's kick came in,Claus Jorgensen did well to get to the ball but could only direct his header wide.
As the match reached the half-time stage, Liam Nicell had to be alert to concede a corner after a cross by Shaun Cooper.
The only change at the interval was made by the referee Steve Dorr who swapped his black shirt to green as his original choice of colour clashed with the Portsmouth kit.
Angus won a corner for Portsmouth,two minutes into the second half, a poor kick was cleared upfield for Patrick Suffo to hit a low 25 yard shot for Wapenaar to collect.
The game was pretty even but in the 51st minute, it was Portsmouth who gained the advantage when a cross found Liam Horsted on the left hand edge of the penalty area. Horsted took one touch to get the ball on his right foot and lashed the ball high into the net at the far post.
With Craig Pead send a ball out of the ground from thirty yards, the Coventry right back was brought down by Shaun Cooper as he tried to push forward. Cooper was called over by Mr Dorr and shown the yellow card.
Two corners for Portsmouth followed before Neil Wood lost possession allowing the ball to be punted upfield where Scott Shearer met it and promptly cleared it onto the roof of the small Manor Park Main Stand.
That was the last of Wood as he was replaced by Liam Davis at the same time as Eric Deloumeaux made way for Anthony Barry.
After both sides had won a corner, Craig Pead became the second player cautioned when he saw yellow for a late tackle on Scott Harris in the 73rd minute.
Two minutes later, Coventry equalised with a goal out of nothing when Bjarni Gudjonsson picked up a pass some 25 yards out and beat Wapenaar with a low crisp drive.
From being a goal down,City could have been 2-1 up when Claus Jorgensen was clearly shoved down as he tried to make his way through a crowd of players on the far hand side of the area. This time,Mr Dorr who had a good game,continually informing the players of his decisions, waved played on and the danger was averted.
As a scout from Leeds United was making his way out of the ground,Portsmouth won an 86th minute free kick after Osbourne tangled with Horsted. Four Portsmouth players lined up to take the kick but confused themselves with their own ingenuity and the City wall was able to block the ball and clear the danger.
With the game in the second minute of the three added on for stoppages of which there was not many, Graham Barrett got down the right and crossed in the direction of Anthony Barry. Wapenaar came out and beat Barry to the ball and the game finished all square.
HT CCFC 0-0 PFC FT CCFC 1-1 PFC
ATT 55
GOALS - Liam Horsted (51 mins)
Bjarni Gudjonsson (75 mins)
Booked Shaun Cooper,Craig Pead
Man Of the Match - Craig Pead,Isaac Osbourne and Bjarni Gudjonsson took the votes.
TEAMS
Coventry
Shearer,Pead,Nicell,Deloumeaux (Barry 66), Bains,Osbourne, Gudjonsson,Jorgensen,Barrett,Suffo,Wood (Davis 66)
SNU Tuffey,Reid,Wall
SNU Tuffey,Reid,Wall
Portsmouth
Wapenaar,Angus,Cooper,Pulis,Buxton,Duffy, Fordyce,S.Harris, Keene,Horsted,Clark SNU Day,D.Harris,Wilson,Carter-Harris