COVENTRY CITY 1-1 CHARLTON ATHLETIC BY KEV MONKS
TEAM
Marshall,McNamee, Borrowdale,Ward, Turner,Hughes,Doyle,Tabb,Mifsud,Best (Adebola 62) SNU Konstantopolous,De Zeeuw,Thornton,Kyle
CHARLTON
Weaver,Mills,Bougherra,Powell,Fortune,Sam (Holland 81),Sernado,Zheng,Reid, Varney (McLeod 65),Iwelumo SNU Randolph,Sodje,Todorov
Referee Neil Swarbrick
Booked Simpson,Sernado,Mifsud, Hughes,Mills
ATT 19,021
Goals Luke Varney (15), Michael Mifsud (83)
Man Of The Match Stephen Hughes
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STARTING FORMATION
Mifsud Best
Tabb Simpson
Doyle Hughes
Borrowdale Turner Ward McNamee
Marshall
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WEATHER
A sunny and quite pleasant afternoon whilst the sun was at its highest.
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CITY SUPPORTERS
After the Manchester United game, I would have thought we would have been looking at a gate of around 23-25,000 but it was only just over 19,000 with close to 3,000 Charlton fans. If beating the Premier League champions can't get supporters into the ground then I don't know what will.
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A case of "After The Lord Mayor's" show as Michael Mifsud snatched a late point for Coventry City at home to Charlton.
This was the first time we had played The Addicks for five years and the first time Iain Dowie had been in charge of a team against the club he managed for fifteen games.
Dowie did get some stick from the 3,000 Charlton fans on a warm,sunny afternoon at the Ricoh Arena but that was after the visitors had taken a fifteenth minute lead.
A handball by Danny Mills was not given by referee Mr Swarbrick and Lloyd Sam raced through to fire low past Andy Marshall who kept his place in a City side which only showed one change for Wednesday's magnificent win at Old Trafford.
The aforementioned game had taken its toll on the City players and there were some heavy legs out there in the first half.
It did look a case of tired legs when Elliott Ward made contact with Luke Varney in the 23rd minute in the penalty area but the referee decided there was nothing doing.
Stephen Hughes, who picked up a rib injury, worked hard in midfield alongside Jay Tabb whilst Leon Best was kept in check by Madjid Bougherra.
The former Southampton striker, who cost City £650,000 in midweek at the Transfer Tribunal, did lose his marker in the 31st minute to help Mifsud flick onto the cross bar.
Now finding their voice, the City supporters backed their team as three successive corners finally came to nothing.
Charlton showed briefly just before the interval with Stephen Hughes making a great block and Chris Iwelumo missing with a free header.
Having still not scored at the Jewson Stand end this season,City attacked the CT Stand for the second half.
David McNamee,a replacement for the injured Isaac Osbourne, should have equalised five minutes into the second period but tried to shoot with only Nicky Weaver to beat. His shot cum cross,being eventually headed over by Robbie Simpson.
In the 54th minute,a mistake by Bougherra let in Mifsud who drove low only for Weaver to save with his feet.
The Maltese international nicknamed "The Mosquito" by Tim Flowers joined the list of cautions on the hour mark for retaliation after being flattened by Bougherra.
Ben Turner again did well at the back and got in a header from a 62nd minute corner won by Leon Best who was replaced by Dele Adebola a minute later.
The first touch for the Nigerian was to have a header from a corner headed off the line by Danny Mills.
The former England defender who had drawn massive boos from City fans when the sides met in the FA Cup,again got plenty of abuse from the City faithful. He got away with one foul on Mifsud but was eventually cautioned for taking out Jay Tabb.
It looked liked City,who were trying to walk the ball into the net were not going to score when Weaver's 76th minute slip let Tabb play a short ball deep inside the penalty area. All Michael Doyle had to do was to touch the ball and it would have gone in but he stood rooted to the spot as it was cleared.
Incidents have a habit of evening themselves out over a game and a season and with just over six minutes left, another not spotted handball led to City equalising.
Michael Mifsud was the man involved and it looked like there was definite ball to hand contract as he got the ball from Adebola and turned inside before driving low into the net.
Mifsud raced to the corner flag to celebrate his first goal of the season at The Arena whilst others checked the referee before celebrating the goal.
With two minutes to go,City were caught napping and allowed Chris Iwelumo a free header. The Charlton fans jumped up but thankfully for us,the ball went wide and both sides took a point they would have been happy with before kick off.
This match report is dedicated to the memory of long standing City supporter Mark Seddon who died from cancer yesterday.