BLACKBURN ROVERS 1-4 COVENTRY CITY BY KEV MONKS
Team
Konstantopolous,Borrowdale,Ward,Turner,Osbourne,M.Hughes,Tabb,Doyle,Mifsud,Adebola,Best SNU De Zeeuw,Kyle,Simpson,Gray,Thornton
Blackburn
Friedel,Samba,Tugay,Emerton (Pedersen 59), McCarthy,Bentley,Khizanishvili, Mokeon,Rigters (Nelsen 59),Berner,Treacy (Derbyshire 68) SNU Brown,Warnock
Ht BRFC 0-1 CCFC FT BRFC 1-4 CCFC ATT 14,421
Goals Michael Mifsud (33 & 92), Elliott Ward (63 Pen),Dele Adebola (83)
Ref Lee Probert Booked Michael Doyle, Khizanishvili
Man Of The Match Every player was superb. Elliott Ward and Dele Adebola had their best games of the season.
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STARTING FORMATION
Iain Dowie made two changes with Dimi Konstantopolous and Jay Tabb coming back.
Adebola Best
Tabb Doyle M.Hughes Mifsud
Borrowdale Turner Ward Osbourne
Dimi
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GROUND
Three big stands and one old single tier stand to our right. City supporters were behind the goal and had the whole of the lower tier.
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CITY SUPPORT
As you would expect for a Third Round FA Cup tie,the Sky Blue Army were out in force. Not massively noisy,but vocal and supportive. Supporters from Northern Ireland,Gloucester, Newport and Kent all joined a load of cars,trains and close to thirty coaches in a following of around 4,000.
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What the future holds for the Sky Blues, with the club now facing an anxious few days to see if SISU Equity will get the club or we will end up in administration, we don't know but Coventry City gave their supporters a day to remember with an absolutely stunning 4-1 victory at Premier League Blackburn Rovers.
The Sky Blue Song blasted out from the Fernhurst pub as pre-match beers were sunk by a City following determined to enjoy the day.
We got into the ground and saw City kick off against a Blackburn side which would be classed as a more or less a first team place bar former Sky Blue Stephen Warnock and Roque Santa Cruz plus two others who had played in midweek.
FA Cup ties are all about who wants the game more and very early on, it was evident that the City players were prepared to run themselves into the ground whilst the Rovers players gave the impression that all they had to do to was turn up to win.
Elliott Ward was in superb form along with Ben Turner and they kept Benny McCarthy and Rigters in check,making some superb tackles.
Ward was in the right place to clear for an eight minute corner after Dimi had spilled a David Bentley shot and when the kick came in, superbly used his chest to play the ball away.
Against Premier League opposition, Michael Mifsud was keen to again show what he could do. In the 17th minute,the top scorer made a great run down the right and drove in a shot which was deflected for a corner.
McCarthy hit a poor shot at the other end before Mifsud's persistence won a corner on the half hour mark.
It was more persistence that led to Mifsud giving City the lead in the 33rd minute. Completely out of nothing, Michael Mifsud got into a good position inside the penalty area and hooked the ball. It took a deflection and went over the stranded Brad Friedel and dropped into the far corner of the net.
There was a bit of delayed reaction from the City support at the other end but when we realised it was a goal and duly celebrated in time honoured fashion.
Bentley showed a few glimpses of class, one of which saw Michael Doyle cautioned and carrried on, when permitted in the second half. As Rovers boss Mark Hughes became more animated on the touch-line, his charges had a Samba header onto the bar and Dimi had to make his only real save of the entire match when he conceded the second of three corners shortly after the restart.
In the 55th minute,City also had a corner and first to it was Dele Adebola who got in a header which sailed agonisingly inches over the crossbar.
Hughes made a double change but in the 62nd minute, Dele Adebola was fouled on the left. The free kick came to the edge of the area and there was Jay Tabb. The Irishman hit a shot which thumped on the crossbar and bounced down. Leon Best went for the ball and was shoved by a combination of defender and goalkeeper.
"Penalty" was the cry from the City players and support and referee Lee Probert duly obliged by pointing to the penalty spot. Up stepped Elliott Ward who powered a kick into the net before racing to the City support to celebrate.
Whilst, we danced,sang and cheered, Blackburn supporters had had enough and started to leave the stadium.
City kept attacking a Blackburn side which was now all over the place. Mifsud's pace was too much for them whilst the power of Adebola and the guile of Forest target Leon Best was more than the home defence wanted to handle.
Both sides missed with free headers. Michael Mifsud was totally unmarked when he headed wide in the 76th minute. Three minutes later, Tabb played in Best,who only had Friedel to beat, fired into the side netting.
Time may have been heading towards the final whistle but there was still plenty of action to come.
In the 83rd minute, the City support were in complete raptures as Dele Adebola powered his way through with a surging run,skipped round one defender, before driving a low left footed shot past the diving American.
Up got a load more Blackburn fans whose entire support was just over the ten thousand mark and they missed Blackburn go up the other end and pulled one back through David Bentley whose drive from 22 yards skidded past Konstantopolous.
This caused a few nervous moments but City had come this far and were not going home empty handed. Dimi made a good save from a corner and the Sky Blues regained their compusure.
Four minutes of stoppage time were added and in the second minute of this, a superb victory was wrapped by Michael Mifsud who got the ball down the right, kept his cool and hit a right footed shot low into the net.
In scenes, similar to our 1987 FA Cup Final victory, we hugged and jumped on those stood next to us as well as our friends in celebration of this superb victory which makes you glad to be a Coventry City supporter.
The Fourth Round draw is on Monday at 1.30pm. City are ball number five.