BARNSLEY 1-4 COVENTRY CITY BY KEV MONKS
TEAM
Konstantopolous,Osbourne,Borrowdale,Ward,Hall,Tabb,Gray,M.Hughes (S.Hughes 81),Doyle,McKenzie (Best 72),Kyle (Mifsud 72) SNU Marshall,Hawkins
BARNSLEY
Colgan,Nyatanga,Reid,Kozluk,Johnson (Togwell 72),Mostto (Odejayi 60),Howard,Ferenczi,Ricketts,Souza (Werling 72,Devaney. SNU Letheren,McCann
Att 12 616
Ref S.Mathieson
TEAM
Konstantopolous,Osbourne,Borrowdale,Ward,Hall,Tabb,Gray,M.Hughes (S.Hughes 81),Doyle,McKenzie (Best 72),Kyle (Mifsud 72) SNU Marshall,Hawkins
BARNSLEY
Colgan,Nyatanga,Reid,Kozluk,Johnson (Togwell 72),Mostto (Odejayi 60),Howard,Ferenczi,Ricketts,Souza (Werling 72,Devaney. SNU Letheren,McCann
Att 12 616
Ref S.Mathieson
Booked Kyle (39),Osbourne (59)
Goals McKenzie (5),Howard (7),Kyle (49), Gray (64),Mifsud (92)
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WEATHER
A glorious day with a few clouds.
_______________________________
GROUND
Oakwell can hold over 20,000. It has an old main stand which was half-empty. Two sloping ends behind the goals,one of which offers 6,000 seats for away supporters. There is a two tier main stand to the left of the visitors end.
______________________________
STARTING TEAM FORMATION
Iain Dowie surprised everyone with his team selection. Dimi came in for Andy Marshall. He joined other debutants Gary Borrowdale,Michael Hughes and Julian Gray in the starting line up.
Konstantopolous
Osbourne Hall Ward Borrowdale
Tabb M.Hughes Doyle Gray
McKenzie Kyle
___________________________
CITY SUPPORTERS
This was a superb turn out of City supporters, 2,089 was the official figure,we were loud and very proud.
CHANTS OF THE DAY
We've got More Hughes Than You.
We Are Top Of The League Alphabetically.
_____________________________
FIRST HALF
Against a Barnsley side which included former Sky Blues Martin Devaney and the downwardly mobile Rohan Ricketts, City were straight on the attack at a sunny Oakwell.
We'd only played five minutes and already applauded efforts by Leon McKenzie and Kevin Kyle when Michael Doyle swung a long free kick to the far post.
There was Leon McKenzie who firmly got his head to it,steering past Colgan and sending the City support into raptures with the third fastest goal of the new Championship season.
We were still hugging each other and high fiving but just over a minute. the ball came into the penalty area. For some reason Kevin Kyle must have thought he was still on the beach playing beach volleyball as he used his hand to bat the ball away right in front of referee Mr Mathieson who awarded a penalty.
Up stepped Brian Howard who chipped the ball down the middle past the wrong footed Dimi.
This lifted Simon Davey's side who let City play up to the final third before clearing the ball.
Marcus Hall looked nervous early on in his centre half role with a one half header not being punished by Kozluk in the 24th minute and there started to be pangs of concern from the City supporters who were trying to get a few choruses of "Away From Here" by Cov band The Enemy going.
Goals McKenzie (5),Howard (7),Kyle (49), Gray (64),Mifsud (92)
-----------------------------
WEATHER
A glorious day with a few clouds.
_______________________________
GROUND
Oakwell can hold over 20,000. It has an old main stand which was half-empty. Two sloping ends behind the goals,one of which offers 6,000 seats for away supporters. There is a two tier main stand to the left of the visitors end.
______________________________
STARTING TEAM FORMATION
Iain Dowie surprised everyone with his team selection. Dimi came in for Andy Marshall. He joined other debutants Gary Borrowdale,Michael Hughes and Julian Gray in the starting line up.
Konstantopolous
Osbourne Hall Ward Borrowdale
Tabb M.Hughes Doyle Gray
McKenzie Kyle
___________________________
CITY SUPPORTERS
This was a superb turn out of City supporters, 2,089 was the official figure,we were loud and very proud.
CHANTS OF THE DAY
We've got More Hughes Than You.
We Are Top Of The League Alphabetically.
_____________________________
FIRST HALF
Against a Barnsley side which included former Sky Blues Martin Devaney and the downwardly mobile Rohan Ricketts, City were straight on the attack at a sunny Oakwell.
We'd only played five minutes and already applauded efforts by Leon McKenzie and Kevin Kyle when Michael Doyle swung a long free kick to the far post.
There was Leon McKenzie who firmly got his head to it,steering past Colgan and sending the City support into raptures with the third fastest goal of the new Championship season.
We were still hugging each other and high fiving but just over a minute. the ball came into the penalty area. For some reason Kevin Kyle must have thought he was still on the beach playing beach volleyball as he used his hand to bat the ball away right in front of referee Mr Mathieson who awarded a penalty.
Up stepped Brian Howard who chipped the ball down the middle past the wrong footed Dimi.
This lifted Simon Davey's side who let City play up to the final third before clearing the ball.
Marcus Hall looked nervous early on in his centre half role with a one half header not being punished by Kozluk in the 24th minute and there started to be pangs of concern from the City supporters who were trying to get a few choruses of "Away From Here" by Cov band The Enemy going.
This was not helped by Michael Hughes not being certain who he was marking and allowing The Tykes to gain possession.
Hall did atone in the 38th minute when he superbly blocked as Brian Howard closed in one goal.
The first booking of the new season came a minute after the clearance and was for Kevin Kyle who piled in with his arm.
As the half came to a close,a good run by Isaac Osbourne saw him flick just wide after a neat one-two and Kyle planted a tame header into the arms of Colgan.
HT BFC 1-1 CCFC
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SECOND HALF
Iain Dowie must have read the act to a few players and massaged the egos of the rest at the interval as his side came out and played some of the entertaining football that he had promised in the week.
If this was a game of two halves then this was it. With just under five minutes of the second half, the Sky Blues were back in the lead when Doyle,who was taking all the corners,saw his place kick find Osbourne on the right. The makeshift right back played the ball inside for Jay Tabb to send over a telling cross for Kevin Kyle to nod into the net from four yards.
The Scot raced over to celebrate with the City fans and then was seen to smile when chants of "Super Kevin Kyle" emanated from the away end.
Kyle forced Colgan into another good save in the 54th minute with a good header from a Doyle free kick.
Five minutes later, and Barnsley had resorted to trying to get our players sent off when Souza fell over the leg of Isaac Osbourne who ended up with a very harsh caution.
By now,City were show-boating in a display loved by the City support who went mental when a superb run by Tabb towards the left,saw him hold the ball up for Julian Gray. The new signing from Birmingham cut inside before lashing the ball high into the net to make it 3-1 with 63 minutes gone.
It was the celebration of this goal that saw some of our corporate supporters ejected from a box after the stewards decided they had to act to protect them from a baying mob of Barnsley supporters.
The continuation of making a poor side look poor even brought a step-over from Kevin Kyle before he was replaced by Michael Mifsud in the 72nd minute with Leon Best coming on for Leon McKenzie.
The pace of Michael Mifsud and Tabb proved too great for the Tykes and in the first minute of stoppage time, Tabb sent the Maltese international on his way and he kept his cool to stroke the ball low into the net.
Mifsud raced over to the jubilant City fans who had heard that Palace and Ipswich had won 4-1 and alphabetically City were top of the league. There was an ejection as some of the supporters piled onto a low wall to mob the goalscorer.
Seconds later,the final whistle went and the celebration continued all the way back down the M1.
FT BFC 1-4 CCFC
Man Of The Match - Jay Tabb just beat Julian Gray in the votes with nominations for Gary Borrowdale and Issac Osbourne.
Supporters View
A delighted Cheryl from Upper Eastern Green said: "Whatever,Iain Dowie said to the players at half-time certainly worked. "We found the ground,we shot,we scored. Can things get any better than this?"
Lloyd from Tamworth said: "We'll play better sides this season but you can only beat what is in front of you and we beat them at a canter."