The unbeaten run continues

The Sky Blues extended their unbeaten run to eight games at Millwall on Wednesday night with a thrilling 4-0 victory, a win that took them to second place in the Championship. Thanks to some clinical finishing the goals are flying in and they have now scored 22 goals in eight league games. That equals the post-war club record set in 1963-64, the Third Division promotion season. The only season that betters that was in 1935-36, another promotion season, when after eight games Harry Storer's team had netted 26 goals. In 1963-64 Jimmy Hill's team had won six, drawn one and lost one game conceding just five goals (the same as the current team). It's interesting to compare the goalscorers in those seasons; in 1935-36 Clarrie Bourton had netted eight of the 26 and in 1963-64 George Hudson also had scored eight whilst this campaign has seen Haji Wright net seven.

Midweek away league games haven't been City's forte in recent seasons – last season they won only one of eight such games. I had to trawl through the records to find as big a win as Wednesday night's success and finally found that the last time City won of these games by a four-goal margin was back in 1958 at Aldershot. City had beaten the Shots 7-1 at home the previous week and Billy Frith's team took up where they had left off at Highfield Road and it was 4-0 at half-time with Jimmy Rogers scoring an 18 minute hat-trick and Mick Kearns with a penalty completing the scoring. City eased off in the second half and it ended 4-0.

Everyone is asking when we last went unbeaten in the first eight games of a season and it isn't that long ago. In 2019-20 Mark Robins' team remained unbeaten in their first ten league games and lost their record in that disastrous 0-4 loss at Rotherham. Strangely none of the four away games in that run were victories whereas this season Frank Lampard's team have already won twice on the road, scoring nine goals. 

We are still short of City's best unbeaten start to a season however. That happened in 1937 in the old Division Two. Following promotion in 1936 manager Harry Storer had consolidated in the higher division and with some shrewd buys had built a strong side with its foundations in defence. He had introduced a new kit that summer and it took fifteen games for the 'Bantams' to lose in the new kit. They started the season with a goal-less draw at Tottenham followed by two 1-0 home victories over Manchester United and Burnley. A point in the return at Old Trafford and a 2-0 victory at Bury put City into second place but another 1-0 home win over Stockport saw City go top of the table. The team's form was attracting the crowds and over 27,000 saw City draw 2-2 with Chesterfield and a week later Forest grabbed a point at Highfield Road. Any thought that bubble was about to be burst were dispelled with 2-1 victories at Newcastle and at home to Luton before a 3-3 draw at Swansea after leading 3-1 kept City on top. A 2-0 home win over Norwich saw Irish international winger Jackie Brown score his sixth goal of the season and a week later came City's greatest test, at Villa Park.

Villa were favourites for promotion and were in third place two points behind City. Over 67,000 including an estimated 20,000 Coventry fans packed into the ground and saw a thrilling game. Billy Macdonald gave City a first half lead but Eric Houghton levelled after the break and a draw was a fair result and extended City's run to 13 games. The first two Saturdays of November saw City record 0-0 draws, at home to Bradford Park Avenue and at West Ham, the latter game attracting a crowd of over 40,000 to Upton Park, one of the largest crowds at the east end stadium.

                               The 1937-38 squad that were unbeaten for the first 15 games

Seven days after the draw at West Ham City's fifteen-game run came to an end at Highfield Road when Sheffield Wednesday staged a smash and grab act with a 1-0 win. City were never out of the top four all season but two defeats in their final three games cost them promotion to Division One with Villa and Manchester United going up and City missing out by one point. Coventry fans would have to wait another 29 years before reaching the top flight.

Jim's column 5.10.2019

Last Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Doncaster ended the Sky Blues 100% home record after five consecutive victories. The team therefore equalled the five game winning run from the start of the season achieved last in 1973 under Gordon Milne and before that in 1956. It fell short of the club record start of eight home wins in a row set in 1935 and equalled in 1950. The next target is to remain unbeaten at home and the record for that was set in 1955, under the managership of Jesse Carver, when the team were unbeaten for 15 home games in a run which lasted until the middle of February 1956. Carver, the manager who City’s chairman Erle Shanks somehow lured from Italy to manage City, then a Third Division club, only stayed in post from the close season until New Years Eve, never lost a home game in charge. He oversaw 12 wins and two draws in that five month period before being enticed back to Serie A by Lazio.
The Sky Blues’ unbeaten run in the league is now 10 games, the second best start in the club’s history, and just five off the club record set in 1937 which I wrote about last week. City are now one of only three clubs unbeaten in the top four divisions, Liverpool and Ipswich being the other two.
Amadou Bakayoko became super sub on Saturday, scoring the deserved equaliser in the 89th minute, eight minutes after coming on for Jordy Hiwula. That was Bakayoko’s third goal from the bench since he joined the Sky Blues last year, following his brace in the victory at Charlton last autumn. The club record is five scored by Gary McSheffrey.
I watched Bayern Munich’s 7-2 demolition of Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday evening and realised as Serge Gnabry netted his fourth and Bayern’s seventh goal that a long-standing record had been broken. In October 1970 the Sky Blues suffered a 6-1 defeat at the hands of Bayern in what, until Tuesday evening, was the heaviest defeat by an English club in a major European competition. Older fans will need no reminding of the circumstances of the horrendous night in Munich: a surface resembling a paddy field after torrential rain, reserve goalkeeper Eric McManus in goal for the injured Bill Glazier and facing a team of virtually all internationals including Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Muller and Sepp Maier. The Sky Blues were 4-1 down after 20 minutes and the score line could have been a lot worse but a bit of dignity was restored with a 2-1 Sky Blues win in the second leg at Highfield Road. Since that night no English club had suffered a worse defeat although Leicester went close in 2016, losing 5-0 to Porto. Someone suggested that Tottenham had lost 8-0 to Cologne in the Inter-Toto Cup a few years ago but I don’t think that competition is classified as a ‘major’ competition.

Jim's column 28.9.19

After failing to come from behind to win a home league game in more than three years Coventry City did it in successive home games against Blackpool and AFC Wimbledon. Both games saw late, late winners with Liam Walsh's winner in the latest game timed at 93 minutes. By my reckoning these two comeback wins were the first time the Sky Blues have done it in successive home games since 1989. On 27th March 1989 Danny Wallace gave Southampton an early lead at Highfield Road but Brian Borrows equalised before half-time before David Speedie grabbed a 71st minute winner with one of his trademark chips over Tim Flowers. Two weeks later Norwich were the visitors and Speedie was the star man again, making David Phillips' equaliser and scoring the winner. 'Speedo' also won a penalty which saw Canaries' 'keeper Bryan Gunn sent off for dissent, but Brian Kilcline missed the spot kick. The victory lifted the Sky Blues to sixth place in the old First Division but sadly there were only 12,000 to watch John Sillett's exciting team defeat a Norwich team still in contention for the league title.

Today's home game with Doncaster is probably City's toughest test to date and the nine-game unbeaten league run will come under severe pressure. It's currently the best run by a City team since the autumn of 2015 when Tony Mowbray's thrilling team went unbeaten for 11 games that saw them top League One for three weeks. We are still well short of City's best unbeaten start to a season however. That happened in 1937 in the old Division Two. Following promotion in 1936 manager Harry Storer had consolidated in the higher division and with some shrewd buys had built a strong side with its foundations in defence. He had introduced a new kit that summer and it took fifteen games for the 'Bantams' to lose in the new kit. They started the season with a goal-less draw at Tottenham followed by two 1-0 home victories over Manchester United and Burnley. A point in the return at Old Trafford and a 2-0 victory at Bury put City into second place but another 1-0 home win over Stockport saw City go top of the table.

The team's form was attracting the crowds and over 27,000 saw City draw 2-2 with Chesterfield and a week later Forest grabbed a point at Highfield Road. Any thought that bubble was about to be burst were dispelled with 2-1 victories at Newcastle and at home to Luton before a 3-3 draw at Swansea after leading 3-1 kept City on top. A 2-0 home win over Norwich saw Irish international winger Jackie Brown score his sixth goal of the season and a week later came City's greatest test, at Villa Park.

                                                         1937-38 squad 

Villa were favourites for promotion and were in third place two points behind City. Over 67,000 including an estimated 20,000 Coventry fans packed into the ground and saw a thrilling game. Billy Macdonald gave City a first half lead but Eric Houghton levelled after the break and a draw was a fair result and extended City's run to 13 games. The first two Saturdays of November saw City record 0-0 draws, at home to Bradford Park Avenue and at West Ham, the latter game attracting a crowd of over 40,000 to Upton Park, one of the largest crowds at the east end stadium.

Seven days after the draw at West Ham City's fifteen-game run came to an end at Highfield Road when Sheffield Wednesday staged a smash and grab act with a 1-0 win. City's good form continued however and the next three games were won with 11 goals scored and there was only one more defeat before the middle of January – at Bramall Lane in front of 49,000 on Christmas morning. City were never out of the top four all season but two defeats in their final three games cost them promotion to Division One with Villa and Manchester United going up and City missing out by one point. Coventry fans would have to wait another 29 years before reaching the top flight.