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BEDWORTH UNITED 2-4 COVENTRY CITY
RESERVES
BY KEV
MONKS AND CLAIRE PRICE
A trip to The Oval in
Beduff for the Sky Blues second string saw Trevor Peake forced to field a
reserve side with a number of first team players injured or kept back for the
opening game at Stockport. There was no Andy Goram who is on a weeks trial
with the Sky Blues and Peake's side included Gary McSheffrey,.Laurent
Delorge,Calum Davenport,Morten Hyldgaard and Lee Fowler who all have appeared
in City's first team friendly matches.
Bedworth gave ex City
Reserves keeper Tynan Scope a start and boss Ian Drewitt who also started,
fielded local goal scoring sensation Chris Partridge who signed from
Coventry Marconi three weeks ago.
Trevor Peake's side
started brightly with two early corners and a Craig Pead shot. but it was the
home side who took the lead when Ian Drewitt found space on the right and put
over a super cross for Chris Partridge to firmly head the ball past Hyldgaard
and into the net.
City fought back, playing
some good short passing football, Craig Pead was excellent down the left hand
side, setting up chances for Laurent Delorge and Gary McSheffrey. City had
just had their best chance when a 32nd minute Craig Pead shot was
heading towards the bar but Tynan Scope pulled the bar down and allowed the
ball go over for a goal kick.
Two minutes later,
City were deservedly level when a nine man move saw the ball sprayed out to
Craig Pead on the left. Pead got to the by-line and put over a super cross for
Laurent Delorge to head in from close range. This was an excellent goal
and one described "as a goal of great movement" by Bedworth
Assistant Manager Marcus Law in his after match press-conference.
A minute later, referee
Darren King had to step in to prevent Ian Drewitt from further punching Craig
Pead after he took exception after a strong tackle. Drewitt was asked to leave
the field of play by the referee and was substituted. The Welshman later
apologised to his team-mates and will the subject of a club disciplinary. In
the 41st minute, Gary McSheffrey forced a good save from Scope with a well
taken shot.
Both sides were unchanged
for the start of the second half and Lee Fowler missed a good chance to put
City ahead after Greenbacks sub Hegarty fired wide of the goal.
City's fitness had told
against the part-timers in the opening period and it was confirmed when City
hit two goals in two minutes. In the 51st minute Craig Pead created space on
the left wing and fired over an inch perfect pass for Laurent Delorge to tap
in on the goal line. Tow minutes later,City went further ahead when Mark
Magennis got through on the right to square the ball to Brian Ford who
launched a swerving shot that flew past Scope from 25 yards and into the
net.
To their credit, the Dr
Martens Western Division side, kept plugging away against a City side who lost
Pead to a 68th minute thigh injury and delighted the home support in a crowd
of 625 when Scott Brown found Partridge who firmly drilled the ball from 10
yards by Hyldgaard after 74 minutes.
City came back once more
and in the 80th minute, Gary McSheffrey picked his spot from 5 yards to score
after some good approach work by Laurent Delorge. The goal sealed an excellent
performance from a young Sky Blues side that should be well in the FA Premier
Reserve League again this season.
Partridge nearly snatched
a hat-trick right at the death but the ball fell cruelly for him and the ball
went wide
After the match, Bedworth
assistant boss praised the Sky Blues efforts and commented on their skill and
fitness and said "that even against the best side in our league, we are
not going to come across a team like that". He could not fault his own
side's commitment and the performance of Chris Partridge along with
youngster Scott Brown. The former Coventry Sphinx boss who had also
played for Bristol Rovers and Stafford Rangers described the game as a good
work-out for both sides
TEAM
1 Morten Hyldgaard,2
Brian Ford, 3 Craig Pead (14 Marco Brancati 68),4 Craig Strachan (15 Mark
Noon 84) ,5 Richard Spong, 6 Calum Davenport,7 Mark Magennis,8 Robert Betts,9
Laurent Delorge,10 Gary McSheffrey (17 Avun Jephcott 83),11 Lee Fowler
SNU 12 Sean Cooney,13 Gary
Montgomery,16 Matthew Cook
Monks/Price Man of
The Match - Craig Pead
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