By CovSid67
August 25 2006

Suddenly beating Sunderland on the opening day of the season doesn't seem like such a good result, as it seems everybody can do it! On a day when one-time target Sam Parkin was moving from Ipswich to Luton for (A reported) £340,000 (Rising to a (Reported) £500,000), Coventry City were spending (A reported) £600,000 (Rising to a (Reported) £1,000,000) on the injury prone Kevin Kyle. To say this wasn't the best received transfer would be on a par with any reaction to Hilda Ogden being voted Miss World. A hat-trick on his debut versus Hull should get supporters onside though.

Aside from that....

Having been away in Germany for a few days - sampling many a free beer! (That's the beauty of not speaking the language! You get sat in the corner and ignored!) - I missed the defeats against Southampton and Cardiff. According to reports, and the opinions of those that went along, absolutely nothing has changed from last season. Chances were created (Adebola hit the post versus Southampton), chances were missed (John poked an effort just wide in the dying seconds versus Southampton), and as a result, we lost.

And, as with the goal conceded against Sunderland, the goals were avoidable....

Hughes unnecessary giving away of a free-kick enabled Gareth Bale to score another cracker (How long before he gets snapped up by a Premiership side if his set-pieces are of this quality?!), while Elliott Ward was unlucky to concede a penalty after tangling with Rasiak (An incident, to use a well-worn footballing cliche, described as 'six of one and half-a-dozen of the other') in the match against Southampton.

A decent display, but defeat against Cardiff, saw us drop into the bottom six of the table.

As if conceding goals in Championship matches against teams expecting to be fighting for a Top 6 place wasn't bad enough, to concede three bloody awful goals to League Two side Hereford was just abysmal - and it could have been worse. And the most annoying thing about this defeat is it wasn't even unexpected, so poor is our record against supposed inferior sides.

The biggest shock of the night was the undroppable Michael Doyle starting the match on the bench!

Stuart Fleetwood scored all three for a side playing non-league football only last season, and maybe things might have been different had a Hughes effort not hit the post after a quarter-of-an-hour (With the scoreline at a mere 1-0) .... but I doubt it. It was difficult to tell which team had been playing in Division Five last season, and the reality is, Fleetwood could have had six, as our defence failed to cope with a side beaten convincingly by Barnet days earlier.

The signing of Kevin Kyle shows despite Fleetwood underlining the point, Adams' is still unware that pace is a match-winning commodity....

For the first three matches of the season, Micky Adams managed to field the same starting line-up, then lost two right-backs in the first 20 minutes versus Cardiff, with McNamee limping off after five minutes, and replacement Adam Virgo limping off soon after - both the result of slightly over-the-top challenges that went unpunished. Since then he has also lost hot prospect Jay Tabb, who has undergone a hernia operation.

Our best chance of replacing McSheffrey is unavailable for a good few weeks....

Also in my absence, Andy Morrell has finally left - hurrah! Right midfield clearly wasn't his position .... though striker didn't look that good either the few times he was given the chance since his 'better than Pele goal' versus West Ham! He's has finally moved on to Blackpool (His debut saw then win 4-2, though he failed to get on the scoresheet), while loan keeper Luke Steele has gone too, having managed to warm the bench for a whole game (Moving to WBA as part of a deal that saw their keeper move to MU) - much to the relief of some Coventry City supporters!

I doubt either loss will affect us - though a second keeper at the club would be appreciated....

Claus Jorgensen might be following Morrell to Blackpool too. CJ was know worse than a fair few midfield players that have been on the books in his time at the club, but he appears to be the fall-guy whenever he has played and Coventry City have lost. Should he leave, he will always be remembered as the first player to score at the Arena....

As for the fall-out from the sale of Gary McSheffrey, a Fans Forum saw (A mere) fifty supporters turn up, and have the chance to grill Paul Fletcher. Had this meeting started in Coventry Baths, the likelhood is supporters would have tried to drown Mr. Fletcher - by the end of the evening, by all accounts, PF would have been walking on water!

Amongst other details, PF revealed he didn't know when the payment from Liverpool would be paid now Chris Kirkland has made it onto the pitch for England - congratulations to Mr. Kirkland Jnr, as this was well deserved (And would have happened far sooner were he not so injury prone), and to Mr. Kirkland senior, who finally took his money from the bookies!

If anybody knows Mr. Benitez' phone number, please pass it on....