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BY KEV MONKS
COVENTRY CITY
1-0 KAA GHENT
Well City's last
pre-season was at home to Belgium side KAA Ghent from whom we purchased Cedric
Roussel. And after the performance at Cardiff, the Sky Blues needed a boost.
With Middlesbrough's Keith
O'Neill in talks with City about signing in the next couple of days, Strachan
again picked a scratch side which did not really give any indication to what
his eleven for the Stockport game. Mo Konjic remarkably recovered from
playing a full 90 minutes at Brentford to make the team and Lee Carsley who is
rumoured to be off to West Ham were included.
The Belgian side,who had
been hammered 7-1 by Paris St Germain in the week, nearly took a fifth minute
lead when a Jacky Peeters header was cleared by Roland Nilsson. As for the
visitors that was really it as City dominated the rest of the match.
In the 11th minute, City should
have taken the lead when some good work by Marcus Hall saw Chippo attempt a
Keith Houchen impersonation but his header went tamely into the arms of
Herpeol.
Although, City dominated
the midfield with Lee Carsley,Chippo,Quinn and Marcus Hall all trying to
push forward, they were not really threatening the goal. Chippo
missed a great chance in the 34th minute when he shot into the side
netting and Mo Konjic forced the keeper into a relatively easy save. Three
minutes before the break, City were denied a penalty after Carsley was upended
but referee Mark Cooper was having none of it.
The 2,753 crowd were less
than impressed with the proceedings and the biggest roar of the half was
reserved for the appearance of the scantily clad Sky Blue Crew making their
way to the pitch for what they class as half-time entertainment.
The crowd which was
becoming increasingly restless was not pacified by a second half performance
which was no better than the first. Ghent's only real chance was a
Karouche shot just over shortly after the restart whilst Chippo and
Bothroyd both wasted chances that should have been buried.
Both sides used the second
period to shuffle their packs and it was one of those changes who earned City
a win. With just over a minute left, Zuniga did well to find Ivan Guerrero in
a crowd of players. The Honduran took a pot shot with his right foot, the ball
took a massive deflection of Ghent sub Anders Christensen and wrong footed the
keeper and went into the net.
By then it was too
late,many had already left, dismayed at another lackluster performance. How
poor the game was, was summed up by a fan in the East Stand who was fast
asleep on the final whistle and it took two officers from the St Johns
Ambulance Service to wake the lad up from his deep slumber.
If this is what we will
have to put up with this season, it is going to be a very long one.
Team
1 Kirkland, 2 Nilsson (19
Edworthy 83),3 Hall (17 Antoelius 83),4 Williams (12 Shaw 64),5 Konjic,6 Quinn
(18 Guerrero 64),
7 Thompson (15 Fowler 71),8
Carsley (16 Strachan 71),9 Bothroyd (14 Zuniga 83),10 Martinez,11 Chippo
Monks Man Of The Match -
Mo Konjic
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