By CovSid67
February 21 2009

Coventry City hadn't beaten Birmingham City in the last seven home fixtures, since a 2-1 victory in the 1980/81 season, a run consisting of four 0-1 defeats, and three draws. They finally ended that poor sequence, thanks to Scott Dann's third goal of the season, just over a minute into this match, though they could have been a goal up after only 30 seconds! (With Taylor saving from Morrison).

The hosts missed a fair few decent chances after that to give them the cushion of a second goal, though Sinclair did have a second half 'equaliser' ruled out for offside for Birmingham (Know doubt Karren Brady will have seen it differently, and will whine about it in 'The Sun' next weekend). The decision proved doubly disappointing for away supporters, who celebrated the goal the first time the ball hit the net, and again after mistaking the referees gesture!

Morrison missed two chances to extend the lead inside the first fifteen minutes, heading over minutes after Dann's goal, and seeing Ridgewell block another effort soon after. Birmingham had a few chances in the first 45 minutes, including forcing Westwood to make one quality save, getting to a deflected effort to deny the away side an equaliser. Another solid display at the back, including majestic displays from Dann and Turner, meant Westwood was rarely troubled though.

Doyle and Gunnarsson also more than matched Birmingham's quality midfield (With the latters value increasing with every passing fixture), with Coventry City old-boy Lee Carsley withdrawn as early as the 32nd minute, being replaced by Bouazza (Some reports say through injury, some say it was tactical).

McKenzie was replaced by Henderson with only eight minutes of the second half played, with a suspected achilles injury. Henderson had a couple of decent chances to extend the home sides lead before the match ended, while Best missed the sort of chance that would usually give the boo-boys ammunition, but with the player saying he feels like a super-hero in his mask, he once again seems to have become Mr. Popular.

Five minutes of injury time probably had a fair few supporters fearing the worst after recent results, but Coventry deservedly held onto their one-goal lead, and recorded a win against the side second in the table, having beaten the top-of-the-table side in their last home fixture. 

On the back of three decent displays, all-be-it with the disappointment of conceding two late goals in two of them, you really wonder what the club has to do to attract more than 22,637 for this sort of fixture. It's to be hoped all those 'missing' supporters have merely opted to come along on Tuesday instead.

If there are any other disappointments to be had, it's that seven points from the last nine has barely moved us up the table, and that if we had avoided conceding that late equaliser versus Burnley, we would have been a mere six points off the play-off places.

While I haven't listened to CWR's after-match phone-in for a while, I've read enough Message Boards to know that it's usually filled with moaners - unsurprisingly, every call was positive today. Let's hope it lasts....

TEAM: Westwood, Wright, Fox, Dann, Turner, Bell, Gunnarsson, Doyle, McKenzie (Henderson 54), Morrison (Eastwood 89), Best (Simpson 88). SNU: Marshall, Beuzelin.