By CCFC Sid
March 14 2005

Apologies for the lateness of this match report - nobody woke me when this dull, dull game had finished, and I've been sleeping at Highfield Road for the last two days. And the day had started so well, seeing Tommy Hutchinson outside the ground.... This match had all the passion and commitment of the Coventry-Bradford match when both sides knew they had been relegated from the Premiership, with both sides seemingly re-enacting the Coventry City versus Bristol City match, when both sides knew that a draw would send somebody else down (If only this were true!).

Three of the first 10 minutes were wasted as Cardiff tried to decide exactly how to take a free-kick, and it seems they perhaps should have given it another minutes thought, as a poor effort only troubled those in the stands.

A couple of minutes later, a fine ball from John to McSheffrey saw the Cardiff right-back clear any potential danger.

The no longer maligned Stern John (So why do people on Coventry Message Boards continue to say he is?) opened the scoring for CCFC, after Trevor Benjamin had failed to do so despite being only a yard or so from the Cardiff line, only for Bullock to score a soft equaliser minutes later.

Jorgensen was blasted by Bennett and Staunton for his part in the equaliser, and was blasted later on in the match by Staunton for again failing to help out with defensive duties.

The atmosphere inside the ground had been fairly loud up until this point, but, rather than inspire supporters to get behind their team, this seemed to quieten both sets of fans down (Except for the hounding of Duffy by Cardiff supporters).

With very little else worthy of note for a good fifteen minutes, a superb run by McSheffrey was wasted, following a cross that the word "abysmal" fails to properly sum up. Somehow the ball fell to a CCFC player, and good work between Jorgensen and John almost led to a chance, before Cardiff's defence cleared well.

With just over five minutes of the half left, Marcus Hall woke both CCFC crowds(!), with a dangerous pass-back to Bennett, who had to deal with Cardiff players racing towards him at pace. He cleared, and supporters were able to return to their sleep....

Half time saw a few Coventry City Legends wander onto the pitch, wave, then wander off again, and, with one of them being the great Tommy Hutchinson, those that had seen him play were left wishing he had brought his boots along....

Stern John blasted an effort way over the Cardiff bar ten minutes into the second half, and five minutes later Cardiff were allowed a virtually unopposed strike at goal, though thankfully wasted the chance.

Jorgensen and John were replaced by Barrett and Morrell (Quite why John was brought off was a mystery, as Benjamin seemed a far more obvious candidate), though only one real effort worthy of note was created by the two, with Barrett clearly wrestled to the floor by a couple of Cardiff defenders (The same player was also responsible for a terrible miss, which the word "howler" was made for). The referee put the whistle to his lips, but obviously forgot to blow it, and thoughts of a penalty disappeared....

There were also appeals for a penalty when Benjamin appeared to be pole-axed in the area, but again, they were waved away by the referee. Soon after, Benajmin made way for Adebola (Who had stripped off ready for action a good fifteen minutes before, before putting his coat back on and sitting back down).

A poor Hughes free-kick was somehow missed by the first Cardiff defender, and every player in and around the six-yard box, before being cleared to safety by the Cardiff defence.

Reports elsewhere suggest there had been seven shots on goal in this match - I'm presuming the pre-match warm-up was included.

With both sides failing to improve their chances of staying up by winning, thanks has to go to Ipswich for not only beating Notts Forest, but for making a big dent in Forest's goal difference column too. Let's hope they can do the same this week when they play Cardiff....