Reserves Lose Final Home Game
"I'm never coming here again to watch City Reserves lose" was just one of the comments as we filed out of Highfield Road after Coventry City Reserves had lost their last ever game at Highfield Road 4-2 to West Ham.
On a night of pouring rain which kept the crowd down, Alan Cork fielded a predictable team with Ryan Lynch taking over at left back and Liam Nicell moving into midfield and taking over the role from Craig Pead who had joined Walsall on loan.
West Ham on the other hand named a side at lunchtime which included Scottish international Christian Dailly,Steve Lomas and Luke Chadwick. However, by the time, the East Londoners arrived at Highfield Road, Dailly had been replaced by Rufus Brevitt.
It was the visitors,watched by their manager Alan Pardew,a man reportedly close to being dismissed who were the first to show when Kyel Reid's pace took him down the left and Andy Whing had to head his cross over his own bar for a corner.
In the fifth minute, Reid was involved again when he sped down the left flank,despite being clearly offside and fully seeking to gain an advantage,something missed by the assistant referee who was not keeping up with play. Reid delivered a lovely cross into the six yard box for Moses Ashikodi, who left Millwall after an incident in which he was stabbed by a fellow player, to slot the ball past Jonny Tuffey and give the Hammers the lead.
It was a lead that was doubled in the eleventh minute when Tony Stokes danced his way through the City defence before being pulled down. Stokes got to his feet and although Tuffey went the right way, his well taken spot kick hit the back of the net.
Coventry born Greg Pearson who was rejected by the Sky Blues after a trial,should have put the Hammers further ahead in the 17th minute when he fired wide from ten yards.
In the 22nd minute, the mood of the City supporters briefly lifted when Eddy Johnson capitalised on a through ball and advanced on goal before drilling the ball in to the far corner of the net.
Coventry won a corner two minutes later, but this was cleared up to Kyel Reid who hit a shot which Tuffey did well to save with his feet.
With conditions not helping their style of play, the Sky Blue strikers were relying on scraps and in the 28th minute,a lovely turn and shot from Craig Reid from the edge of the area forced Hammers keeper Ducan Kuciak into a save.
The visitors with Tommy Laws,a man whose hairstyle was a best a poor Rod Stewart or an even poorer Alan Biley, were quite happy to dish out the rough stuff and in the 41st minute, the City support were less than happy with referee Dave Birkett when he felt that an elbow by Pearson on Sean Cooney was only worth a ticking off.
Mr Birkett who insisted on calling all the players "Guys" did finally make an entry in his note book two minutes before the break when Stokes was cautioned for flattening Liam Nicell from behind.
The Hammers made a change just under two minutes into the second half when Steve Lomas limped off and was replaced by Danny Bunce who appeared for the Sky Blues in a reserve league game at Crystal Palace last month.
A minute later, West Ham scored again when a mistake by Andy Hall let in Kyel Reid who raced through to fire past Tuffey.
City replied with Eddy Johnson firing wide and a Ryan Lynch cross being tipped over his own bar for a corner.
Johnson was replaced in the 68th minute by Gary O'Toole and three minutes later, Sean Cooney was replaced for the third time in successive games by Stuart Wall. Another two minutes later, Cork and his assistant manager/fitness coach Darren Robinson made their third and final substitution when Azariah Ogarro was given a debut in place of Neil Wood.
With fifteen minutes left, Jonny Tuffey made a terrific point blank save when he blocked an Ashikodi effort as Laws had nodded down a Kyel Reid cross.
West Ham had just brought on the very young looking (twelve at the oldest) David Cowley when Craig Reid hooked the ball down for Luke Webb, in his third game on trial, to rifle the ball in from yards and reduce the arrears.
There had been much mickey taking about the diminutive Cowley who had been taunted with chants of "Does Your Mother Know You're Here?", but he has the last laugh when in the 83rd minute, Andy Hall was beaten on the right by Reid, the ball sent in to six yard box. The City defence kicked and swung at the ball as Cowley did well to control the ball and somehow find a way to thread the ball into the net.
In the dying seconds, Tuffey made another excellent block with his feet from a Bunce shot but unfortunately, it was the visitors who were the better side and the ones who went away from this final ever reserve game at Highfield Road with the points.
HT CCFC 1-2 WHUFC FT CCFC 2-4 WHUFC
ATT 250
GOALS Moses Ashikodi (5 mins)
Tony Stokes (10 mins pen)
Eddy Johnson (22 mins)
Kyel Reid (48 mins)
Luke Webb (76 mins)
David Cowley (83 mins)
BOOKED Tony Stokes
Man Of The Match - No-one really stood out, Luke Webb took the votes ahead of nominations for Tuffey, Johnson, Cooney, Whing, Nicell and Craig Reid.
TEAM
Tuffey,Hall,Lynch,Webb,Cooney (Wall 71),Whing,Nicell,Wood (Ogarro 73),Johnson (O'Toole 68),C.Reid,Davis SNU McCrink,Layfield
WEST HAM
Kuciak,Henry,Brevitt,Laws,Cohen,Lomas (Bunce 47),Chadwick (Cowley 76),Stokes, Pearson,Ashikodi (Allen 88),K.Reid SNU Reed,Andrew,White.