Skater
ICC Chairman
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2004
- Profile Flag
- England
Nah, no pressure in the Championship, just make sure you get off to a good start else you'll be playing catchup for the rest of the season.
Good luck and keep it up.
It is a long season and so much can change - consistency is key!
COVENTRY CITY v NORWICH CITY
The first competitive game of the season for my Norwich City team was in the Midlands, against Coventry City. I would be happy with a point to kick off the Coca Cola Championship.
There were 2 changes to the side that drew with King's Lynn in the last friendly. Jon Otsemobor came in for the injured Andrew Cave-Brown, although he probably would have played anyway, and I went for the experienced Adam Drury instead of the young Ryan Bertrand. This was the line up:
----------------------Marshall----------------------------
Otsemobor---Doherty--------Shackell---------Drury
Croft---------Russell-------Fotheringham (c)--Murphy--
------------------Cotterill----Evans---------------------
Substitutes: Gilks, Parkin, Bertrand, Dublin, Cureton
There was a strong wind across The Ricoh Arena, but it was very hot. Their defender Arjan de Zeeuw had to be substituted because he was injured after just 4 minutes, a bad start to the season for him. Both sides had one chance each in the early stages, Ched Evans firing wide and their best player, Michael Mifsud, hitting the post.
It was a very even game, it was end to end in places, and I was pleased it was still 0-0 at half time. I gave the players some encouragement, I didn't make any changes as I felt they were playing well.
I had the feeling this was going to be a game in which one of the sides would nick a goal and that would be the difference. We gave ourselves the best chance of winning by scoring through Dave Cotterill on his league debut for us. The ball ran free and Cotterill used his skill to get past the defender and slot the ball home.
Unfortunately, we were unable to keep a hold of the lead. A brilliant move from Coventry City ended in Leon Best scoring the equaliser. Jason Shackell's involvement in the failed attempt to defend it caused him to pick up an injury, forcing him to come off and me to play Dion Dublin in the centre of defence in his place.
I thought it had all gone wrong when Mifsud smashed the ball into the net, but the referee had blown his whistle already for offside. The Sky Blues were furious, they were adamant the Maltese striker was onside. I was delighted the referees had ruled in our favour!
After getting a let off like that, we shouldn't have let Gary Borrowdale put them in front in the 90th minute. We tried hard, but it was too late, Coventry City had stolen the points. We were in the lead, we were competitive, we were unlucky. We needed to do better in the rest of the month after this poor start.
Coventry City 2-1 Norwich City
Cotterill 53
PLAYER RATINGS
Marshall - 6/10
Otsemobor - 7/10
Drury - 7/10
Doherty - 7/10
Shackell - 7/10
Croft - 7/10
Murphy - 7/10
Fotheringham - 7/10
Russell - 6/10
Evans - 7/10
Cotterill - 8/10
Dublin - 7/10
Man of the match: Dave Cotterill
COCA COLA CHAMPIONSHIP RESULTS
Barnsley 1-0 Colchester United
Bristol City 2-0 Crystal Palace
Burnley 3-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Charlton Athletic 1-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Coventry City 2-1 Norwich City
Ipswich Town 3-3 Stoke City
Preston North End 2-0 Southampton
Queen's Park Rangers 0-0 Plymouth Argyle
Scunthorpe United 2-2 Leicester City
Sheffield United 0-0 Blackpool
West Bromwich Albion 6-0 Cardiff City
Hull City 0-1 Watford
SHACKELL BREAKS NOSE
Norwich City defender Jason Shackell will be unavailable to play for the team for between one and two weeks after breaking his nose in the Coca Cola Championship match against Coventry City at The Ricoh Arena.
But Swindon Town 6-5 Coventry????? Some very strange results in there! But back to winning ways, expectedly against Lincoln so hopefully you can build on that. KUTGW!
so 2-1 is an improvement 
Come on man how can you lose to a bunch of in-bred ship builders 
