DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE 0-1 COVENTRY CITY
TUE AUG 14 At The London Borough Of Barking & Dagenham Stadium, Dagenham.
Capital Cup Round One
City: Murphy, Clarke, Hussey, Wood, Brown, Kilbane, Baker, Daniels, McSheffrey (Elliott 69), McDonald, Ball (O'Donovan 84). SNU Dunn, Garner, Malaga, Jeffers, Edjenguele.
Dagenham: Lewington, Ilesamni, Doe, Spillane, Scott (Green 65), Etlito, Howell, Hoyte, Ogogo, Woodall (Williams 56), Bingham. SNU. Davies, Reed, D.Green, Williamson.
Referee I.Williamson Assts A. Cuggins & N.Lugg. Fourth Official J.Hopkins.
Booked Elliott, Kilbane, Ilesanmi,Spillane
HT DRFC 0-0 CCFC FT DRFC 0-1 CCFC ATT 1904 .
Goal Kevin Kilbane penalty 89
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CITY SUPPORT: A good turn out of 580 City supporters made the journey to East London.
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CITY TEAM NEWS: Andy Thorn had John Fleck injured and Adam Barton on international duty, Andy Thorn fielded his strongest possible line up.
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WEATHER A sunny warm evening.
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The last time Coventry City won an away League Cup tie, they won 2-0 at Manchester United and four years later, a late penalty gave City a 1-0 victory at Dagenham & Redbridge.
With news of City in the High Court over unpaid rent and players forced to take cuts in bonuses or face being transfer listed, Andy Thorn's side travelled to East London to take on a side that had not won a League Cup tie since they first entered the competition on becoming members of the Football League.
Pre-game, the thing concerning most of the City support housed in the best stand in the stadium at Victoria Road, was getting a programme. Problems at the printers, meant they arrived just before kick off and saw a exodus from the stand as City supporters rushed to grab a copy.
They need not have rushed as City were taking their time to get going and when they did create a chance early on, the fans on the open terrace at the other end were in more danger than the Daggers custodian.
City's defence of Clarke, Wood, Brown and Hussey had looked relatively comfortable but as the half wore on, they came under increasing pressure.
Abu Ogogo sent over a shot which went for a corner and four minutes before half-time, Scott Doe hit the bar.
They really should have scored and three minutes later, Josh Scott was allowed space to curl a shot just past the far post.
Cody McDonald had a bad miss just before the break and four minutes after, with the City support, launching into a chorus of "Sky Blue Army", Callum Ball, who is clearly still settling in with the Sky Blues, had a shot blocked.
In the 52nd minute, Cody McDonald dived in but he was beaten by the keeper using his head.
John Still's team were more than happy to play the ball in the air but City were not able to play that way and there were calls from the City support to play the ball on the deck.
Andy Thorn sent on Stephen Elliott who got himself booked for dissent in the 77th minute and in the 84th minute, brought on Roy O'Donovan.
Then, the game came to life. Kevin Kilbane, who had a quiet evening got in a shot on target. There was a big cheer from the City fans who launched into a chant of "We've had a shot on goal".
The chants were still going on, when the ball came into the penalty area and there was a slightl pull on the shirt of Richard Wood. The referee, clearly like most in the ground. did not want this drab affair to go to extra time and awarded a penalty.
Upstepped Kevin Kilbane. Lewington dived to his left out of the way of the ball and the ball hit the back of the net much to the relief of the Sky Blue support who then launched into a chorus of "We Only Need Two Shots." before the game ended and City were able to progress to the second round despite a sub-standard performance.