Jim's column 3.2.24

The games are coming thick and fast for Coventry City right now and a draw in the FA Cup fourth round tie at Hillsborough means potentially seven games for the team during February. Hopefully the seventh and last game of February will be a fifth round tie with Maidstone United who await the winners of next Tuesday's replay with the Owls.

Arguably the Sky Blues shouldn't have needed a replay to beat Wednesday but failed to press home their domination at Hillsborough. The fans got their first glimpse of new Danish signing Victor Torp who scored a memorable goal on his Coventry debut. His goal is the first by a City debutant since Tyler Walker scored the winning goal after coming off the bench in a League Cup tie at MK Dons in August 2020. The last debutant to score in an FA Cup tie was Josh Pask in a 3-0 replay win over Bristol Rovers at St Andrew's in early 2020 and you have to go back to September 2018 for the last league scoring debutant – Conor Chaplin with a penalty in a 2-1 victory at Oxford. Here's hoping that Victor has a more successful career at Coventry than those three scoring debutants. 

Kyle McFadzean left the club this week with many eulogies for his part in the club's rise in recent years. He joined Coventry from Burton Albion in the summer of 2019 and helped the club to win promotion to the Championship in his first season. He had previously won promotions with Crawley Town and MK Dons. He made 171 appearances for the Sky Blues and scored eight goals including the winner on his CBS Arena debut against Nottingham Forest in 2021. Prior to his arrival I always felt City's defence had a soft heart and were often bullied by the more physical teams. Kyle solved that problem at a stroke, commanding his penalty area and probably the most dominating centre-back the club has had since Mo Konjic twenty years previously. Of course he had his moments – the disaster at Rotherham when he was red carded as City slumped to a 4-0 defeat comes to mind but he bounced back from that and was only on the losing side once more that season. Last season his presence was dreadfully missed when he was injured in December and January when City won only two games out of 11 and suffered embarrassing home defeats to Wrexham and Norwich. He returned in February helping steer the team to the play-offs and was only on the losing side once in 20 games. This season he had continued his good form and it was still hard to imagine a Coventry side without their captain and defensive rock but Mark Robins decided to change the defensive formation to four at the back and Kyle, who is 37 this month, was relegated to the bench. With the re-formed back four producing good results and Kyle's presence not missed he had become surplus to requirements. Kyle is a true legend of the club, a winner and a major force in the Coventry City's resurgence.