By CovSid67
April 8 2006

Half-hearted display, half-hearted crowd, now it now looks as if we're finishing half-way down the table .... or lower. And the unbeaten home run was surrendered with barely a whimper. Just what the hell is it about Coventry City that they just have to self-destruct when they're possibly on the brink of something special? Once again other results went our way (Cardiff losing to Southampton, and Wolves losing to Plymouth), and once again we failed to take advantage.

With every recent decent result came the unlikely scenario of finishing in the Top 6. People say this wasn't a reality, but, after a win against Sheffield United, and what should have been a win against Leeds, the Crewe game suddenly became the most important game of the season - as per usual, the team blew it.

And had they got something from the Crewe game (Obviously hypothetical, as they didn't), the Preston game would have become even more important - possibly full house important. Instead, despite the cheaper family ticket price, there were around 12,000 empty seats. There would have been far more had anybody had an inkling of the dire fare that was to follow....

Having realised that the chances of making the play-offs were around nil, the home side simply failed to turn up on Saturday - which cost us our recent unbeaten home run. I thought the players might just care about the unbeaten run at the Arena, but obviously I was wrong. If it really meant something, they would have made a better effort to hang onto it....

It's almost as if some players realised that getting into the Top 6 meant we might really get promoted to the Premiership, and just about the entire squad would have to be dumped. Failure to beat rock-bottom Crewe, followed by failure to beat Preston's reserves really does show how much work there is to be done before next season starts - and so does Preston's winner.

The games only goal was avoidable, with a Coventry attack becoming a Preston goal in the space of about 10 seconds.

A fairly poor delivery from a McSheffrey free-kick was easily caught by the keeper (With no Coventry player even bothering to challenge). The ball was hurled up the pitch, and, despite an awful first touch, a Preston player was easily able to get past Michael Doyle. Andrew Whing then slipped, the two Coventry City central defenders were nowhere to be seen, and a shot from distance bounced just in front of, and over, Fulop in the Coventry goal.

There was little else to write home about, except more excessive stewarding, resulting in yet more ejections.

The introducing of the boss of the TV show "The Armstrong's" at half-time didn't exactly inspire, with the applause not even running into single figures, let alone double.

Whing was once again the scapegoat, being replaced by Duffy on the hour - a decision not particularly well received by the home supporters. Hutchison also replaced the anonymous Adebola.

The F.A. tried to prove they have a sense of humour, by giving this match three officials with fish-related names: Pike, Mackrell, and Pollock - Chuckle! Ho! (There were other equally as humorous (Or otherwise) themed officials at other games), though the only thing comical was some of the decisions made.

Once again the official in charge proved to be something of a clown with a fair few dodgy decisions - including one that suggested he doesn't know the rules of the game. A foul on Wise by McKenna saw the Coventry player and Claude Davis needing to receive treatment. Only Wise was sent from the pitch, until prolonged complaints saw the referee correct this .... almost. He tried to get the PNE No. 5 to leave the pitch, when it was No. 4 who had actuall received treatment.

There were a few chances for Coventry to score, with Stern John past the final defender and in one-on-one situations twice, and blowing both opportunities, while Wise also missed a sitter from a few yards out. It really was easier to score....

The final throw of the dice was to put Matt Heath on up front, but, having starved the other forwards of the ball, what was the point? And what was the point of doing this quite so late too? I can't remember him actually touching the ball, but as my head was in my hands for most of the game, I guess I could have missed it/them.

When the five minute lift home from the pub is more entertaining than the 90 minutes that called itself a game of football, you know you've had a bad day....

I think it is still escaping peoples notice just how close we were to pulling off the impossible. Yes, you can't keep winning forever - even Arsenal drew a few when they went 49 games unbeaten - but after what we had done recently, Crewe and Preston were games that should have seen an impossible dream looking like being realised. Crewe were rock-bottom, Preston had an XI out injured - we couldn't have asked for much more in out bid for a Top 6 finish. If we had lost these after at least playing well, the disappointment would have been less because we could at least say we had bothered. But to not turn up for either game is unacceptable.