Coventry City sealed their place in the EFL Championship last weekend despite losing to their bogey team Preston North End. No one expected a smooth passage in the higher division and realistic fans were saying at the start of the season that 21st place would be acceptable. Now we can relax in the knowledge that a second season in tier 2 awaits us. The three-match winning run in six days the week before last was crucial and the true Coventry City relegation fighting spirit emerged with a home win over play-off chasing Barnsley sandwiched between away victories at Rotherham and Stoke. At the crucial time Mark Robins' team came up with not only their first back-to-back victories but made it three wins in a row at Stoke.
Following my piece about former City chairman Erle Shanks two weeks ago I received a nice email from his grandson Chris Pendle who wrote:
Thank
you so much for the amazing article on Erle Shanks, my Grandfather,
in the Coventry Telegraph last Saturday.
Coventry
City did recognise what my Grandfather had done for the club because,
as from the early 1960s, he was given three seats in the Directors’
Box for life - which I benefited from because, from 1963 onwards,
when I was was only 10 years old, he would take me to games on a
regular basis. That continued until I was old enough to take him.
Later on I still had the use of the tickets until my Grandfather’s
death in 1999 since when I have been a season ticket holder.
Your
article reminded me of stories from my grandfather particularly the
saga of Jesse Carver who my Grandfather felt let him and the club
down very badly. I think that the thing that gave him the most
satisfaction was the part he played in the club purchasing the ground
at Highfield Road.
City travelled to Huddersfield Town today for their penultimate league game and will play their first competitive game at the John Smith's Stadium. The two clubs have miraculously managed to avoid each other, league-wise, for 49 years – since they met in the old First Division in 1972. The Terriers were relegated that season and within three years they were in Division Four. They bounced back however and spent several seasons in tier 2 before being relegated again in 2000-01, the same season that the Sky Blues dropped out of the Premiership. In 2011-12 when Coventry dropped into League One Huddersfield were going in the opposite direction and they missed each other again. Since then Huddersfield have been in the Championship, apart from their two seasons in the top flight that ended the season before last. In 1972 the clubs met at the old ground, Leeds Road which was replaced in 1994 by the current ground previously known as the Galpharm and project managed by former City chief executive Paul Fletcher. City did play a League Cup tie at Leeds Road in 1977 and won 2-0 and have played a pre-season friendly at the new ground in 2009 (a 0-0 draw). That game in 1972 ended in a 1-0 win for the Sky Blues with Ernie Hunt grabbing a goal which guaranteed City's survival with four games of the season remaining.
That leaves Fulham as the club that City have avoided meeting for the longest period. Somehow the West London club and the Sky Blues have not been in the same division since 1968 (City's first season in the top flight) when the Cottagers were relegated. It looks increasingly likely that this will change next season as Fulham struggle to avoid relegation and many City away fans might get their first visit to Craven Cottage.
City's Ernie Machin tussles with Fulham's Johnny Haynes in City's last league visit to Craven Cottage
The Preston defeat saw City concede their eleventh penalty of the season and Alan Browne duly converted it as have the previous ten penalty takers. Eleven is one short of the club record for a season – in 2013-14 they conceded 12. However in 2013-14 Joe Murphy managed to save five of them and therefore this season's eleven is a record for penalties 'scored' against us. In addition there were penalties conceded at MK Dons and Gillingham in the League Cup, the former which was saved by Marosi. Someone asked me to analyse who had conceded the 13 penalties. The offenders were:
Ben Wilson 3
Kyle McFadzean 3
Michael Rose 2
Declan Drysdale 1
Callum O'Hare 1
Ben Sheaf 1
Dom Hyam 1
Sam McCallum 1
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