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| COVENTRY CITY 2-0 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY BY KEV MONKS So for twenty odd hours, City are top of the Nationwide League Division 1. To be honest,they should have been top long before their 15th league game of the season as only Portsmouth this season have looked anything like a reasonable side and if Crystal Palace and Wolves draw their games or get beat then City will stay in top slot for a few more days. Two goals were enough to defeat a poor Wednesday side managed by ex City hero Terry Yorath who included Trond Egil Soltvedt in the Wednesday starting line-up. The opening goal came after 38 minutes when David Thompson was brought down by Haslam in a repeat of an earlier free-kick. Thompson made a meal of being fouled but referee Butler awarded a free kick twenty five yards out. Youssef Safri took the kick and curled the ball past the over-weight Kevin Pressman into the top right of the net. The second game from the penalty spot when Laurent Delorge made a rare run into the penalty area and was hacked down by Derek Geary.Lee Hughes stepped up and hammered the 63rd minute penalty in to the roof of the net. This was a far better performance from an unchanged Sky Blues side. Although Jay Bothroyd struggled with Wednesday's offside trap, Lee Hughes looked a totally different player to the game at Wimbledon and was unlucky to have added to his goal tally when he was adjudged to have fouled Pressman in the 48th minute as he tapped the ball over the line. The passing from the hard-working midfield was far better than of late and the defence was solid with even Richard Shaw having a good game. Pick of the bunch was Mark Edworthy who made many runs down the right wing to support the attacks and was there to get in some good tackles when the Sheffield side went forward. Off the pitch, the City fans in a 17 381 crowd were delighting in a excellent performance whilst enjoying the news that Gordon Strachan's Southampton side were getting beat. The visiting support however, resorted to racist abuse with two outbursts in the 14th and 57th minute and kept the police busy with a string of ejections Well it would be easy to get carried away with the feel good factor currently around the club and ground but there are still 31 league matches to go and if you don't mind, I'll leave the celebrations until our place in the 2002-2003 Premiership is confirmed. TEAM 30 Goram,2 Edworthy,5 Shaw, 6 Breen,22 Konjic,7 Thompson,8 Carsley,27 Safri (14 Quinn 85), 28 Delorge (31 Norman 65),21 Bothroyd (25 Martinez 73),9 Hughes SNU 33 Montgomery,17 Zuniga RATINGS 30 Goram 7/10 Only had one save to make but again did well 2 Edworthy 9/10 Superb performance,excellent running and tackling 5 Shaw 7/10 Far better game 6 Breen 7/10 Solid as usual 22 Konjic 8/10 Excellent game at the back 7 Thompson 7/10 Battled well 8 Carsley 7/10 Solid game,good tackling 27 Safri 7/10 Good performance and good goal 28 Delorge 5/10 Not good enough, 21 Bothroyd 5/10 Sadly lacking again 9 Hughes 8/10 Good game,looked good going forward 25 Martinez 7/10 Added pace to the attack and should have been brought on earlier 31 Normann 6/10 Strange decision to give him a run-out,offered little 14 Quinn 7/10 Not on long enough to do anything |