CREWE ALEXANDRA 4-1 COVENTRY CITY BY KEV MONKS
When a club is in trouble at the bottom of the table,you can always rely on Coventry City to give a helping hand and this they did losing 4-1 to a Crewe outfit who should really have had ten goals.
For what Crewe's stadium lacks in facilities,it more than makes up with it's very handy location for the pub,chippy,car park and train station and all the meagre allocation was soon snapped up by the Sky Blue Army.
There was only time for the 1800 strong City support to taunt the home fans with a chorus of "Going Down With The Millwall" before the Railwaymen took a third minute lead.
Now Micky Adams had kept the same team,so the defenders who did so well against Sheffield United and Leeds,blotted their copybooks as a free kick from the right was nodded in at the far post by defender Billy Jones.
Free headers were something that proved a major problem for the hapless City defence.
Gareth Taylor missed with a 12th minute free header and three minutes later,it was two-nil to the home side . Marton Fulop who was City's best player by a country mile pushed another free header onto the bar from a corner. The ball bounced down and Madjid Bougherra bundled the ball in.
City pulled one back in the 22nd minute thanks to Stern John who tapped in,after getting to an Adebola knock down from a James Scowcroft cross.
"Great" we thought,"City are back in the game". Wrong as seconds after the restart,a superb right footed volley from Luke Rogers flew high into the net.
Micky Adams had threatened to do a Jose Mourinho and make an early change and in the 25th minute,he replaced Richard Shaw with Adie Williams. The veteran City defender walked straight off and headed for a shower,looking decidedly unhappy.
Williams was no better than Shaw and was twice well beaten for pace as Fulop was forced to make a superb 41st minute save.
On the stroke of half-time,Andy Whing collected a knock and Richard Duffy who came through the reserves defeat in midweek came on.
Not surprisingly, City were well booed off at the break and after receiving a rollicking,were back on the pitch ready for the second half, a good few minutes before Dario Gradi's side were ready to kick off.
With the likes of Michael Doyle and Don Hutchison who would struggle to get a new contract with Coventry City Ladies on this performance, consistently giving the ball away, the pressure on City's defence continued.
Fulop made two good saves whilst at the other end, Dele Adebola's were very easily dealt with.
On the hour mark, Crewe added a fourth as Gareth Taylor raced through to hit a shot which went past the wrong footed Fulop.
Adams made his third change immediately afterwards bringing on Stephen Hughes for James Scowcroft.
The midfielder and sub keeper with no other custodian on the bench,has piled on the pounds whilst being laid off with a back and Achilles injury and clearly looked well off the form which made him such a popular figure last season.
In the 67th minute, another bad pass set off chants of "What A Load Of Rubbish" from the disillusioned City support.
When a club is in trouble at the bottom of the table,you can always rely on Coventry City to give a helping hand and this they did losing 4-1 to a Crewe outfit who should really have had ten goals.
For what Crewe's stadium lacks in facilities,it more than makes up with it's very handy location for the pub,chippy,car park and train station and all the meagre allocation was soon snapped up by the Sky Blue Army.
There was only time for the 1800 strong City support to taunt the home fans with a chorus of "Going Down With The Millwall" before the Railwaymen took a third minute lead.
Now Micky Adams had kept the same team,so the defenders who did so well against Sheffield United and Leeds,blotted their copybooks as a free kick from the right was nodded in at the far post by defender Billy Jones.
Free headers were something that proved a major problem for the hapless City defence.
Gareth Taylor missed with a 12th minute free header and three minutes later,it was two-nil to the home side . Marton Fulop who was City's best player by a country mile pushed another free header onto the bar from a corner. The ball bounced down and Madjid Bougherra bundled the ball in.
City pulled one back in the 22nd minute thanks to Stern John who tapped in,after getting to an Adebola knock down from a James Scowcroft cross.
"Great" we thought,"City are back in the game". Wrong as seconds after the restart,a superb right footed volley from Luke Rogers flew high into the net.
Micky Adams had threatened to do a Jose Mourinho and make an early change and in the 25th minute,he replaced Richard Shaw with Adie Williams. The veteran City defender walked straight off and headed for a shower,looking decidedly unhappy.
Williams was no better than Shaw and was twice well beaten for pace as Fulop was forced to make a superb 41st minute save.
On the stroke of half-time,Andy Whing collected a knock and Richard Duffy who came through the reserves defeat in midweek came on.
Not surprisingly, City were well booed off at the break and after receiving a rollicking,were back on the pitch ready for the second half, a good few minutes before Dario Gradi's side were ready to kick off.
With the likes of Michael Doyle and Don Hutchison who would struggle to get a new contract with Coventry City Ladies on this performance, consistently giving the ball away, the pressure on City's defence continued.
Fulop made two good saves whilst at the other end, Dele Adebola's were very easily dealt with.
On the hour mark, Crewe added a fourth as Gareth Taylor raced through to hit a shot which went past the wrong footed Fulop.
Adams made his third change immediately afterwards bringing on Stephen Hughes for James Scowcroft.
The midfielder and sub keeper with no other custodian on the bench,has piled on the pounds whilst being laid off with a back and Achilles injury and clearly looked well off the form which made him such a popular figure last season.
In the 67th minute, another bad pass set off chants of "What A Load Of Rubbish" from the disillusioned City support.
This was more than a bad day at the office, this was a City performance that was the worst for some considerable time and the abuse the players collectively and individually received was completely justified.
Some headed for the pub whilst the rest of us watched on as Fulop deflected a Jones shot for a corner and then Luke Rogers being denied what looked a good shout for a penalty.
If Crewe had been any good up front,they would have been in double figures by now but they weren't and with Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday both winning, their chances of taking another three points at Gresty Road off us next season, look very,very slim.
Stephen Hughes managed a couple of shots and Richard Duffy was cautioned for a two footed tackle in the last minute before referee Martin Atkinson ended the nightmare.
HT CAFC 3-1 CCFC
FT CAFC 4-1 CCFC
ATT 6,544
Goals Billy Jones (3),Madjid Bougherra (15), Stern John (22), Luke Rogers (23),Gareth Taylor (60)
Booked Duffy
TEAM
Fulop,Whing (Duffy 45),Hall,Page,Shaw (Williams 25),Hutchison,Doyle,Scowcroft (Hughes 61),Adebola,John,McSheffrey SNU Morrell,Thornton
Crewe
Turnbull,B.Jones, Foster,Lunt,Bell,
Grant,Otsemobor, Taylor,S.Jones (Vaughan 91),Rodgers,Bougherra. SNU Tomlinson, McCready,Higdon, Johnson.
