I went to the game against Bristol Rovers last week. The ground was miserable, the weather was miserable, and the performance was sub-par miserable. Quite frankly, I didn’t want to do a blog about it, so consider that opening statement as good as one. To be honest, it would’ve been miserable, too.
I think what compounds the misery, though, was the fact that we have three big games in a week. As I touched upon during the Barnsley breakdown, this week serves as the barometer for our season going forward. If we can make a good account of ourselves here, and get a few points on the board in the process (I’d say anything totalling five points or more from these three games is a good job), then we should be more positive for the rest of our campaign. But then, we are Coventry City, and we don’t do things like that.
Our first boss fight of the three, was against our faux-rivals, Sunderland.
The first two most notable things upon entering the stadium bowl, were some flat, wall-like objects. The first; our developing new scoreboard installation. The second; the away fans. 5,000 travelling supporters is always a lot, and although they were quiet at first, they soon made a bit of a ruckus. Thankfully, the Sky Blue Army more than held their own, and with a larger repertoire, too (even if we did seem to enjoy chanting about the exploits of a disgraced former Sunderland player the most).
It’s a weird rivalry we have with Sunderland. One that can be listed under the ‘Give it a Rest, Lads’ category of fan grudges. The home fans made no mistake in stoking the flames of whatever daft fire had been lit; wearing Jimmy Hill masks (which we should arguably do for many other games, regardless of the circumstances. It’s a little bit daft to do it just for this match, guys. He did far more for this club than keep us up at Sunderland’s expense), singing about how ‘Jimmy sent [them] down’, and even smuggling a few Newcastle shirt-clad fans into the ground, for a few cheap laughs.
https://biamousbike.com/2018/09/30/they-come-from-a-land-down-sunder/