A game and another defeat for Coventry City as they went down to a 2-0 defeat at home to Southend United.
Mark Robins made five changes with starts for Bigirimana, Rawson, Tudgay, Ryan Haynes and Dion Kelly-Evans and played a 3-5-2 formation on a not too unpleasant evening at the Ricoh Arena.
The Ricoh Arena was exceedingly empty as the team’s made their way onto the pitch.
The numbers of tickets sold might have been 7,646 but there was no more than five and a half thousand actually in the ground including former City player and manager Steven Pressley to see Southend start with former Coventry City players Marc Antoine Fortune and Frank Nouble on the bench
The visitors really should have taken the lead with less than thirty seconds gone when Anthony Wordsworth drove wide but after a minute and fifty six seconds of play, the were ahead when Nile Ranger was allowed space inside the area to score.
That quickly brought the “Sisu Out” chants from the City support and Mark Robins, with his head in his hands, probably less than happy that the “good guys” who run the club were being questioned.
City did force a corner in the 11th minute which was over-hit by Stevenson and meant that Beavon had no chance to gain anything with his header.
A free kick was needlessly given away and three minutes later, the visitors had a corner then another free kick. Ryan Leonard took the kick some twenty plus yards out and thumped it. The ball took a deflection, looping over Burge and into the net.
Twenty three minutes in and it was game over already in a half which was probably the worst of City’s miserable season and one again which lacked any passion or visible signs leadership from the senior players.
Ryan Haynes, who never had the chances to make as many runs as he should have, ran and fired over, drawing sarcastic cheers from the City support who were less than happy with the standard of Lee Burge’s kicking and the inability of many City players to hold and control the ball without giving possession away.
Jordan Turnbull was often left exposed and vulnerable in a City side which Robins should have changed the formation of to cope with Southend’s midfield and the City boss did make a change taking off Turnbull and sending on Kwame Thomas at a half-time which saw a good number of friends and fellow long standing City supporters walking out, not wanting to waste any more of their evening on Coventry City.
Marcus Tudgay and Stuart Beavon combined for Reilly to fire harmlessly at Smith, sparking more “We’ve Had A Shot” chants and one of You’re Getting Sacked In The Morning” directed at Mark Robins, who stood looking on with Steve Taylor clearly without any idea of how to change things against a Southend side who knew they had done more than enough to win the game with more than half an hour to go.
Dion Kelly-Evans, my man of the match, did show some fight and got booked for diving in before there were more cheers when a deflected Tudgay shot won a corner.
George Thomas came on for Gael Bigirimana for City and Marc-Antoine Fortune came on for Southend.
For some reason, Thomas went on the wing for a City side that had Lee Burge save from a Theo Robinson shot in the 68th minute.
A 76th minute back pass to Smith was cheered by the City support who were now totally bored and finding other ways to amuse themselves including waving their phones with their lights on, or discussing cake and wine at book clubs.
Reilly did have a shot blocked before Frank Nouble came on to chants of “Sign Him Up” from some of the City support in the East Stand.
As the game went into injury time, “We’re Sh”t and We’re Sick Of It” sang the City support, echoing the views of many who won’t remember this latest defeat which leaves City seventeen points adrift of safety, in a hurry.
