COVENTRY CITY RESERVES 1-0 IPSWICH TOWN BY KEV MONKS
Coventry City Reserves won their last game under manager Steve Ogrizovic thanks to an early goal from Kevin Thornton.
On a cold,wet night at Nuneaton Borough in front of a very sparse crowd,Steve Ogrizovic's last game in charge saw a number of changes from the team that had drawn with Leicester a fortnight ago.
With Patrick Suffo off to pastures new, Dean Leacock,Graham Barrett and Eric Deloumeaux all were replaced by Craig Reid,Ryan Lynch,Ben Mackey and Anthony Barry.
Ipswich whom City Reserves will face at Portman Road on Monday,had their first team on a sunshine break in Tenerife, so Brian Klug took charge of a team which included Monaco midfielder Jimmy Juan who has joined the Suffolk based side on loan for the rest of the season.
In a game watched by Cyrille Regis,Bristol Rovers boss Ian Atkins,City Reserves regular Rotherham boss Ronnie Moore,new boss Alan Cork and about ten Ipswich supporters, City took the lead in the eighth minute when a through ball from Barry found the over-lapping Liam Nicell. The Irishman got to the by-line and crossed for Kevin Thornton to hit a right footed shot past visitors keeper Shane Supple from fifteen yards.
With the rain getting worse,Ipswich had their first effort on goal in the 17th minute with a tame header from Billy Clarke being easily caught by Scott Shearer.
Craig Reid was playing against his former club and in the 18th minute, he did well to turn on the greasy surface and fire a ten yard shot which Supple got down to save.
Four minutes later, Thornton won a corner after cutting into towards the goal only for Town's lanky defender Aidan Collins to blast the ball out of the ground.
In the 24th minute, Collins clattered into Ben Mackey. There was a loud crack which echoed around the empty stadium and a yelp from the young City striker who was immediately rushed to the dressing room clutching his left arm as Collins was shown a yellow card by referee Steve Bratt.
Academy striker Gary O'Toole came on for Mackey who was taken to hospital at the start of the second half.
City were passing the ball around nicely in midfield but after Ryan Lynch fired wide on the half hour mark, neither side managed a worthwhile shot before the interval as centre halves Andy Whing and Isaac Osbourne remained in full control.
The rain ceased and the cold set in as the second half got underway and two minutes in,a good move down the right involving Andy Hall saw Craig Reid fire just over from twelve yards.
Ipswich caretaker boss Bryan Klug made his first change of the evening in the 57th minute when Jerome Sobers who had taken a number of whacks on his legs after throwing himself in the way of efforts by Hall,Reid and O'Toole was replaced by Daniel Flack.
City were well on top and nearly increased their lead when Supple pulled off a fine save diving to his left to concede a corner from an O'Toole six yard header after a Craig Pead free kick.
Ipswich forced three consecutive corners before Klug made his second change in the 62nd minute with Scott Barron coming on for Dean McDonald.
Left back Ryan Lynch who was making his reserve team debut was having a fine game,keeping the Town striker Billy Clarke very quiet. In the 65th minute, Lynch shrugged off Clarke's challenge on the halfway line and hit a superb thirty yard pass fro O'Toole to run onto and fire over whilst under pressure from two defenders.
Much had been made of Jimmy Juan in the pre-game build up. Juan has joined Ipswich on loan from French side Monaco for the rest of the season and to be honest, this midfielder whose legs are match like in appearance, with a dubious first touch, brought down Andy Hall in the 69th minute and was lucky only to receive a ticking off from the referee.
However, the next time a City player was brought to the ground, it resulted in a 72nd minute penalty when Craig Reid got through the Town defence before Collins yanked Reid to the floor.
Kevin Thornton who had scored a penalty for the reserves in their 2-2 draw with Peterborough United last week, wrestled the ball away from Reid who was desperate to score against his former team-mates. Thornton's kick was well taken but Supple threw himself to his right to save the spot kick.
With fifteen minutes left, Juan who had not looked anything out of the ordinary, but had taken a knock limped off and was replaced by Adern Atay.
Thornton was the next player to pick up a knock and the young Irishman rushed for the ice pack on his back after Liam Davis had come on for him.
In the dying seconds, Atay headed over from a corner but it was not enough and City held onto win their first game since beating Fulham 2-0 on November 2nd.
HT CCFC 1-0 ITFC FT CCFC 1-0 ITFC
ATT 75
GOAL Kevin Thornton (8 mins 50 seconds)
Booked Aidan Collins
Man Of The Match - Ryan Lynch in what was an excellent debut
TEAM
Shearer,Hall,Lynch,Barry,Whing,Osbourne,Nicell, Pead,Mackey (off 24 O'Toole 26),Reid, Thornton (Davis 78) SNU Wall,Tuffey, McCrink
IPSWICH
Supple,Mitchell,Krause,Patten,Collins Sobers (Flack 57),Manning,Juan (Atay 75),Clarke, McDonald (Barron 52),Garvan. SNU Casement,Lordan