COVENTRY CITY 3-1 PLYMOUTH ARGYLE BY KEV MONKS
Football is indeed a strange game and a triple substitution paid off to give Coventry City a 3-1 home win over Plymouth Argyle.
Micky Adams only made one change to the team that had throw two points away against Norwich City seven days ago with Andy Whing replacing the suspended Richard Duffy.
Plymouth, whose form was as bad as the Sky Blues in that both had only earned six points from their last six matches, left Coventry kid Luke McCormick on the bench.
The visitors attacking the end where most of their two thousand strong support were housed,won the first corner of the game after 77 seconds but City started to come back.
A minute after this flag kick,Michael Doyle sent a terrific sixteen yard effort just over the bar. When the ball came back in play, it was fed out to Marcus Hall who won City their first corner.
The Pilgrims won a further corner and had a Jason Jarrett header before the course of the game changed.
Matt Heath was injured in the 19th minute,jumping for a ball with
Pilgrims custodian Roman Larrieu. A doctor was summoned onto the pitch and it was clear that the central defender had a rib injury and was not fit too continue. It took a number of minutes for Heath to regain his breath and hobble off past the Main Stand and down into the tunnel.
Now Micky Adams had Andy Impey or Richard Shaw on the bench and you would have thought that either of these two would have immediately replaced the summer signing from Leicester.
But no, Adams delayed the change, leaving City with ten men and in the 24th minute, Plymouth took the lead when a cross from the left was poorly defended and David Norris stabbed in,from inside the six yard area.
There were jeers and calls for Adams to sort it out and in the 27th minute, Adams did just that with a strange decision to make a triple substitution.
Marcus Hall looked to have pulled something early on when he won City their first corner and he was replaced by Andy Impey, Matt Heath was not surprisingly replaced by Richard Shaw and to complete a strange hat-trick James Scowcroft or Slowcroft as some have cruelly nicknamed him was replaced by Don Hutchison.
The move did not go down well amongst the home support in a crowd of 18,796. Coming relatively early in the game, to use all yours subs in one go was a risky move. There were chants of "You Don't know What You're Doing"
This was followed in the 35th minute by slow hand clapping echoing round the half empty stadium.
It was a move that seemed to get through to the players that nobody was happy with what was going on and it was up to them to change the situation.
This they did seconds later, when Andy Impey got the ball from a throw-in, beat two defenders and cut the ball inside for Andy Morrell some ten yards out. The striker and most used substitute for the Sky Blues this season,steadied himself before firing a low drive past Larrieu who was on his backside by the time the ball went past him and into the net.
Marton Fulop made a save and Larrieu did at the other end pushing away a Gary McSheffrey cross.
In the 40th minute, Referee Mick Miller booked Don Hutchison. Jumping into the keeper was I think the reason but from my vantage point it looked a harsh decision by the same referee whose decisions had contributed to a 4-0 defeat at Burnley earlier in the season.
Claus Jorgensen gave Larrieu an easy catch from a free kick and Norris raced up the other end only to snatch at the ball and send it well wide of the goal when really he should have buried it.
On the stroke of half-time, Gary McSheffrey used to his pace to get down the left flank, he centred, Morrell knocked the ball down,Claus Jorgensen followed up only for his shot to be blocked and fall for Dele Adebola some six yards out. With only the keeper to beat,Adebola some how toe-poked the ball onto the crossbar before it was cleared for a corner.
Five minutes of stoppage time were displayed by the fourth official and in the second minute of this, City took the lead.
Andy Impey did well to gather a throw in,turn and find Don Hutchison with a well placed delivery. The Scot on loan until January 3rd, turned to beat a defender before firing a low drive into the net.
The goal lifted everyone's spirits as we went into the break and three minutes after the restart, City wrapped up the match when Gary McSheffrey raced down the left before hitting a low drive which went off the far post and into the net.
A Nicky Chadwick pile driver was the closest a poor Pilgrims side got as City controlled the game.
Twenty minutes from time,the CET stand were on their feet, not for another chorus of the tiresome "Stand Up If You love City" but to strain their necks and watch as some supporters got stuck into the stewards response team acting on the orders of ACL CEO Paul Fletcher who is trying to enforce a get tough policy on standing in the Arena.
I'm informed that punches were thrown (too many people were standing for me to be able to have a clear view of proceedings) and this saw around twenty police officers march round the pitchside track,to shouts of abuse and jeers and into the right hand part of the CET incident where arrests were made.
Richard Shaw was doing a fine job at the back,clearing his lines and heading away when required whilst Gary McSheffrey whose pace proved at times too much for the Pilgrims defence joined Michael Doyle in the book. McSheffrey was still seething after he had wrongly pulled up for shielding the ball some minutes earlier
Martin Fulop made a brilliant diving save to stop Paul Wotton three minutes from time but City were way too good for Plymouth and recorded their fourth home victory of the season.
HT CCFC 2-1 PAFC
FT CCFC 3-1 PAFC
ATT 18,796
GOALS David Norris (24),Andy Morrell (45),Don Hutchison (45),Gary McSheffrey (48)
Booked Hutchison,Doyle,McSheffrey,Norris
TEAM
Fulop.Hall (Impey 27),Whing,Page,Heath (off 19 on Shaw 27),Doyle,Jorgensen,Morrell, Scowcroft (Hutchison 27),McSheffrey, Adebola SNU Ince,Thornton
Plymouth
Larrieu,Barness (Connolly 73),Evans,Morris, Aljofree (Derbyshire 65),Capaldi,Wotton, Chadwick (Taylor 84),Doumbe,Ward,Jarrett SNU McCormick,Lasley