Jim's column 2.3.24

A thoroughly professional performance by the Sky Blues ensured that National League South side Maidstone United were swept aside on Monday evening to book a sixth round place for the first time since 2008 and only the third time in the 37 years since the famous FA Cup triumph. A trip to Molineux in the sixth round now faces Mark Robins' team where the old rivalry with Wolves will be resumed in what will be a re-match of the game at the same stage of the competition in 1973 which Wolves won 2-0.

The 5-0 victory is the club's biggest win in the cup since 1999 when Macclesfield Town were thrashed 7-0 and Ellis Simms' hat trick was the first club three goal haul in the competition since Darren Huckerby's in that same game. It was only the sixth occasion that a Coventry player to score three in an FA Cup tie. The others are:

1907-08 Albert Lewis ( v Brierly Hill) (a) 6-2

1907-08 Albert Lewis (v Bishop Auckland) (h) 7-1

1946-47 George Lowrie (v Newport County) (h) 5-2

1963-64 George Hudson (v Trowbridge) (a) 6-1

1998-99 Darren Huckerby (v Macclesfield) (h) 7-0

Lewis scored his two hat tricks in the famous 1907-08 season when Coventry reached the equivalent of the third round as a Birmingham League side. They came through seven rounds (including two replays) to face Crystal Palace, a Southern League side, in the third round. Palace were too strong for City and won 4-2 at Highfield Road. On the way they scored 32 goals, a club record in one season. This season the team have scored 16 goals so far which equals the club record since they joined the league in 1919, set in 1962-63. That season the Sky Blues reached the sixth round before losing to Manchester United and scored 16 goals in nine ties including three games against Portsmouth in round four.

There was another excellent attendance at the CBS Arena on Monday evening boosted by 4,800 Maidstone fans who excellently supported their team right to the end. The official crowd of 26,857 is the fourth highest for an FA Cup tie at the stadium. The top five are as follows:

31,407 v Chelsea (Sixth round) 2007-08

28,163 v West Brom (Fifth round) 2006-07

28,120 v Middlesbrough (Fourth round) 2005-06

26,857 v Maidstone (Fifth round) 2023-24

22,793 v Blackburn (Fifth round replay) 2007-08

To find a higher home Cup gate than the Chelsea game you have to go back to 1979 when the visit of West Brom to Highfield Road for a third round tie attracted a near capacity 37,928.