| PERL TOURNAMENT REPORT BY KEV MONKS Coventry City won the Perl/Besch International Trophy with two victories. The final games of the 2004 pre-season tour took place in the village of Perl on the Luxembourg/French border. Now for once,my directions were spot on and we arrived in plenty of time for a kick about and a penalty shootout won by yours truly. In an attempt to find out exactly what tour organiser Bernd Killat was making out of the club,the way he was stitching up German clubs with regards to the appearance fee he was demanding and his current involvement with Bryan Richardson,I attempted to get some answers from the exceedingly portly Killat and his son Marc. He said "I do not know of any company called SPB and I will not answer any questions regarding Bryan Richardson or about any money, I am here for the football ." His body language clearly showed that he was worried by my questioning and knew that he had been rumbled. This tournament consisted of two semi finals and a final with all the games being of 25 minutes each way. Luxembourg based Grevenmacher won the first match with a 20th minute Danny Huss goal. With Peter Reid having returned home due to his daughters 21st birthday. as well as trying to prevent Dwight Yorke from returning to Aston Villa,Adrian Heath's team faced Oberliga South west side Fk Piramasens. Starting with Shaw and Whing at the back,the German side had the early pressure with a 25 yard shot from Yuichio Iijima that grazed Chris Neal's far post in the fourth minute. In a dour opening period,Suffo wasted a sixth minute free kick and headed tamely at the keeper six minutes later. Pirmasen threatened again in the 17th minute when Iijima burst down the right wing,cut in and drilled a low ten yard shot against the foot of the post. Heath made no changes at the interval as City raised the tempo. Michael Doyle was doing well in his first game back and was fouled in the 32nd minute. Steve Staunton quickly took the place kick and found Patrick Suffo in space behind the defence to score with a low shot from six yards. The 22 City supporters in a crowd of 300 had more to cheer ten minutes later when Jorgensen who spent the entire game swearing,found Dele Adebola who turned his marker before driving a low shot into the net. Four minutes later,Adebola was on the scoresheet again after Doyle chipped the ball into the path of the Nigerian who scored with ease and book City's place in the final. Ht ccfc 0-0 fkp ft ccfc 3-0 fkp att 300 Man Of The Match - Micheal Doyle,followed by Adebola and shaw. Team Neal.Soubervie,Staunton,Doyle,Whing,Shaw,Jorgensen,Pead,Adebola,Suffo,Morrell Pirmasens beat Perl 3-0 in the third and fourth place play-off and at around 7.30pm,a changed City side took to the field for the final. In pouring rain,Stuart Giddings made an early run down the left wing and sent over a ball which was caught by Marc Orbweiss in the Grevenmacher goal. Eddy Johnson and Gary McSheffrey looked lively up front and the loanee from Manchester United forced Orbweiss into a save with a right footed volley. McSheffrey went close nodding over from a Giddings cross and five minutes before the break,Barrett crossed to superbly hit a right footed volley from twenty yards. However,Orbweiss was equal to it and made a spectacular one handed save to push the ball over the bar. No changes were made at the break and two minutes after the restart,City took the lead when Giddings got down the left and crossed for Eddy Johnson to head in. In the 30th minute,Chris Albrecht was booked for a foul on Johnson giving City a free kick which Barrett sent over the bar. Coventry were now well on top and confirmed their superiority when Wood passed to Gudjonsson who advanced before finding McSheffrey on his left. The Coventry kid took a couple of touches before drilling the ball low into the net. Two minutes later,McSheffrey scored again from another Gudjonsson pass to delight the noisy City fans. There was two minutes left when McSheffrey was fouled on the edge of the area by Marcus Koster. McSheffrey got up and curled the free kick high into the net for his hat-trick and City's fourth. The final whistle came shortly after and Calum Davenport stepped up to collect the trophy,posing with the City supporters for photos to remind us of an enjoyable tour. Ht 0-0 FT 4-0 att 300. Goals Johnson 27,McSheffrey 32,35,48. Man Of The Match - McSheffrey with mentions for Giddings & Hughes. Team Neal,Carey,Giddings,Gudjonsson,Blatsis,Davenport,Wood,Hughes,Johnson,McSheffrey,Barrett | ||