LEICESTER CITY 2-2 COVENTRY CITY BY KEV MONKS
Date 21/03/10 At The Walkers Stadium Championship
Coventry
Westwood, Wright, Wood, McPake, Cranie, Bell (Gunnarsson 56), Deegan, Clingan, Baker (Sears 75), Morrison, Stead (Eastwood 66) SNU Konstantopolous, Hall, Hussey, Barnett
Leicester
Weale, M.Morrison, Solano (Brown 83), Oakley, King, Dyer, McGivern, Waghorn (Howard 88), Wellens, Gallagher (Kermogant 77) SNU Logan, Neilson, Adams, N'Guessan
HT LCFC 2-0 CCFC FT LCFC 2-2 CCFC ATT 23, 093,
Goals Andy King (4 & 19), James McPake (54), Gary Deegan (86)
Referee L.Mason
Booked Gallagher
Man Of The Match Keiren Westwood took the votes in our car from James McPake.
_____________________
Chris Coleman remains one of the few Coventry City managers not to have lost to Leicester City as the Sky Blues came from two goals down to snatch a draw.
On what was the best day of the year, weatherwise, the Sky Blue Army set off down the M69 for the Crisp Bowl. There were City supporters from as far away as Dubai, Poole, Newcastle, Bridgend and Kent in the away end making plenty of noise including the abuse of some flag bearers as the match which was shown live on BBC TV kicked off.
Leicester have retained their consistency which has seen them rise to fourth in the table and early on, it showed as the Sky Blues defence was carved apart.
With three minutes and twenty seconds gone, Ryan McGivern, who had been a late change to the home team's line up, was involved in the move which saw the ball played inside the area to Andy King who curled it past Westwood's left hand side and into the net for the opening goal.
Martin Waghorn, who is on loan to Leicester from Sunderland, along with Lloyd Dyer continued to cause problems for the City defence. A free kick from Waghorn had to be pushed round the post by Westwood.
Not retaining possession which had been a rare thing of late, was creeping into the Sky Blues game and in the 18th minute, Jon Stead gave the ball away, Leicester broke and it took another Westwood save to keep the ball out of the net and away for a corner.
But what happened next, will again stir the call for video replays to help referees which Chris Coleman had called for after the penalty incident against Cardiff on Tuesday night.
David Bell only hooked the ball back to Richie Willens who picked out Gallagher. The 19th minute cross came over and Andy King rose and headed onto the underside of the bar. Now, the City supporters were at the other end and did not have a good view to see if the ball had actually crossed the line but the assistant referee on the Main Stand side after some hesitation told the referee who awarded a goal.
My phone and those of many of the 2,000 City supporters in the away end started going off with texts and phone calls from City supporters watching the game at home or in pubs saying that the ball had not crossed the line.
Chirs Coleman was going mental at his players as we stood in disbelief, trying to work out how City were going to come back from this.
I should have known better as twenty four hours earlier, I had witnessed Coventry Sphinx come back from two goals down at half-time to get a draw.
When Richard Wood finally worked out who he was marking and let James McPake do his job, City's midfield started to tighten up.
Jon Stead won the first corner for City, playing in their black away kit in the 31st minute and that was followed five minutes later by another before Bell and Baker both had efforts.
Chris Coleman must have read the riot act to his players who were booed off at half-time by some of the City supporters whose numbers decreased by one when a fan was ejected just before the second half started, as City came out fighting in the second half.
They won a free kick which Clingan got back after it had initially headed out. This time, the Ulsterman found a City shirt in a group of players who nodded the ball down for James McPake to superbly send a right-footed volley into the net with Weale well beaten.
Mental we went, with City supporters diving on anyone near them in jubilant celebration. This riled the Leicester fans in the end to our left, who had to watch as the noise level from the Sky Blue Army increased.
When City played the ball on the deck, they looked good but at times, playing the ball in the air did not help their cause.
So the City management team went for changes. David Bell was replaced by Aron Gunnarsson and Jon Stead, who had been well marked was replaced by Freddy Eastwood in the 66th minute and nine minutes later, Carl Baker who did not pose as much of a threat as he has done in previous matches, was replaced by Freddie Sears.
All players got good ovations from the City supporters who were giving the Sky Blues their fullest backing.
Then with four minutes of time remaining, we got our reward when Martin Cranie drove a daisy cutter into the area. It fell for Clinton Morrison, who slipped the ball inside for Gary Deegan to score from six yards.
If the first goal had caused pandemonium in the away end, the second sparked scenes on a euphoric level of unbridled joy. The players also enjoyed that better than sex moment but calmed down and got on with their job.
Keiren Westwood had to make two excellent stops in stoppage time but when he hacked the ball out in the 94th minute, this emotionally draining affair was brought to an end and we went home exceedingly happy with a point.