Opening Game,Opening Win

Such was the importance to many in the media, of a former Sunderland player in Niall Quinn heading a consortium,taking control and then installing himself as manager of The Makems that the Sky TV cameras turned off the M6 at junction three and made their way into our fair city.

This forced a twenty two and a half hour delay to the original kick off time, benefiting some supporters including those from Northern (Happy Birthday Rimmi) and Southern Ireland plus further afield.

Having seen City wipe the floor with Kidderminster on Tuesday night and heard all about the latest batch of signings made in the last few days, I went into the Arena, full of hope that this new season could be the start of better things for the Sky Blues on the pitch.

The visit of Sunderland saw the Smart system being introduced and there were some to be expected teething problems with some supporters (myself included) having to be admitted via various gates.

Counting Adam Virgo who has yet to arrive in our world famous city, Micky Adams has signed eleven new players over the last three months and named four of them in his starting line up.

With a good atmosphere in the ground on a warm Sunday lunch-time day,Sunderland had the better of the early exchanges winning a second minute corner and having Murphy send a header over.

Both of City's Trinidad World Cup stars had efforts with Chris Birchall who signed on Friday in a move from Port Vale,looking particularly lively on the right.

Gary McSheffrey, whose appearance in a Sky Blue shirt was a clear indication that the Sky Blues do have ambition, (Eric Black was in the crowd though and Micky Adams made it crystal clear after the match that he will not be off-loading the striker), worked well on the left, narrowly missing the far post with a 17th minute low drive across the penalty area and and later hit a shot which deflected onto the post and went out for a corner.

This was an opening period where the back four's of both sides were organised,with Elliott Ward the cream of the bunch and this limited any chances of note.

It was not until stoppage time when a lovely shot from Stern John was pushed round for a corner by Alnwick with another following before Mr Foy blew for half-time.

Seven minutes into the second half,Sunderland won two corners,the second was not cleared and as the ball was sent back in to the mixer,it was allowed to bounce in the penalty area and fall for Darryl Murphy to stab in for the opening goal .

The first caution came two minutes after the goal when Sunderland refused to kick the ball out of play when Chris Birchall was injured. Players from both sides raced in and Stephen Hughes was cautioned.

Adams made his first change in the 67th minute with Don Hutchison coming on against one of his former clubs at the expenses of Dele Adebola.

Hutchison added a bit of flair to the midfield and it worked a treat as in the 70th minute,the Sky Blues drew level with a goal of the highest quality.

Stern John found himself unmarked in the penalty area and turned and rifled a shot which flew into the roof of the net from the edge of the area.

The goal not only lifted the crowd, it lifted the City players.

Chris Birchall limped off and was replaced by Kevin Thornton and then in the 78th minute, Coventry City took the victory when Gary McSheffrey got down the left flank, he cut inside and lashed a stunner right into the top corner.

The City support. in a crowd of 22,366 went mental including kids in the CET Stand who, for some reason, had been throwing paper aeroplanes at two not-unattractive female members of the Sky Blue Crew.

Andy Whing became the third City substitute. The right back replaced Gary McSheffrey who was given a standing ovation by the City support with five to go.

City were always too good for Sunderland and deserved their victory.

HT CCFC 0-0 SAFC
FT CCFC 2-1 SAFC
ATT 22366

Goals Darryl Murphy (52),Stern John (70),Gary McSheffrey (78)