Jim's column 22.10.22

By the virtue of successive victories the Sky Blues climbed off the foot of the table where they had laid since the Hull game in September. The first away win of the season came at Cardiff on Saturday and was followed by another 1-0 win over Sheffield United on Wednesday. Thus ended the longest spell the club has spent in last place in a league table since 2017 in that horrendous season when they were relegated from League One.

Two more clean sheets made in five out of six since the draw at Luton and three in a row away from home. At the moment the team has conceded less goals per game than anyone in the Championship – a far cry from the nine goals shipped in three away games at Millwall, Hull and Norwich.

It was a rare three points at Cardiff – the first victory at the City of Cardiff Stadium after four defeats and a draw since the Bluebirds moved from Ninian Park in 2009. The last win in the Welsh capital was a 1-0 at Ninian Park in August 2007 courtesy of a Jay Tabb goal. City's win was also the first in Wales since then – a run of 13 games since that 2007 win (six at Cardiff, six at Swansea and one at Newport) although they did beat Swansea's under 21s on penalties in the EFL Trophy in 2017.

The winner was a rare home penalty for the Sky Blues – the first at the CBS Arena since early November last year in the 3-2 victory over Bristol City and the seemingly nerveless Martyn Waghorn buried it with his trusty left foot. Substitute Waghorn was substituted within a few minutes and became only the second City substitute to score and be subbed. The only other was Jay Bothroyd in a 2-0 away win over Gillingham in 2002. He also became only the sixth City substitute to score from a penalty and the first since Carl Baker at Gillingham in 2013. The others were Gavin Strachan, Don Hutchison, Patrick Suffo and Gary McSheffrey.

Referee Keith Stroud came in for some criticism after Wednesday's game and the implication of some was that City never did well when Stroud was the ref. I checked the records and it's not true. Last season Stroud was in charge when City won away at Blackpool, Peterborough and Fulham. He was also in the middle for the home games with West Brom (loss) and Preston (draw) and although he arguably missed a handball for one of the Baggies' goals he did add on nine minutes in the latter game for Preston's time-wasting which allowed Tavares to grab an equaliser. Since 2019 Stroud has been in charge of 11 City games and they have won four, drawn five and lost two.

Paul Tebbutt was in touch last week about his father Gordon Tebbutt, aged 88, who has been supporting Coventry City for most of his life. Gordon saw his first game in the 1945/46 season at the age of 11 and recalls watching Harry Barratt score four goals in an 8-1 win but he can’t remember who it was against. There were no 8-1 victories that season but Harry Barratt did score four goals on two occasions.

The first was on 15 November (a Thursday afternoon) when City beat Newport County 7-1. The other goal scorers were George Lowrie (2) and Dennis Simpson. The attendance was 3,146.

The second was against Millwall on 9 February 1946 which ended 7-2 to City. Barratt did score 4 goals and the other scorers were Emilio Aldecoa, Jose Bilbao and Dennis Simpson. Aldecoa and Bilbao were refugees from the Spanish Civil War who arrived in the U.K. before the war. City led 6-0 at half time. The attendance was 13,712.

                            The team that beat Millwall 7-2 in 1946

The games that season are not classified as 'official' games. Peacetime football did not recommence until August 1946 and the 1945-46 season was a transitional season run on a regional basis. City were in Football League South and played against all the top London sides as well as Aston Villa and Birmingham and finished 13th.

Jim's column 16.4.22

Well the impossible happened and the Sky Blues won 3-1 at Craven Cottage on Sunday with an exhilarating performance that thrilled the travelling Sky Blue Army and left the West London club's fans, expecting to see an easy home victory, in total shock. In what was surely one of the club's best results since Mark Robins returned to the club in 2017, the team were on the front foot from the start and fully deserved the win.

As a wrote last week it was City's first league game at Craven Cottage since 1968 and in the intervening years Fulham have not only built a stand on the river side of the ground but also demolished it. A new replacement stand on that side of the ground is just about ready and will surely be full next season in the Premier League. I hope Fulham buy some new defenders before then or they will be in for some embarrassing thumpings in the top league.

It was only City's fourth league win in 17 visits to the Cottage with the last win coming in a meaningless midweek game in April 1948 thanks to goals from Plum Warner and Alex McIntosh. Sunday's win also ensured that City completed the double over Fulham – the first club to achieve that this season – and only the second time Fulham have conceded more than two goals in a game, the other being in the earlier fixture at the CBS Arena. Yet again City scored an added-time goal – their 11th of the season. I understand this is one short of the divisional record but have no other details.

Sunday's game was admirably refereed by Keith Stroud, an impressive official in this league where so many refs are inconsistent and give talented players little protection. Stroud has refereed four City away games and was the man in black in the wins at Blackpool, Peterborough and Fulham with a draw at Millwall. He also officiated in the home defeat to West Brom (he missed the handled second Baggies goal) and the home draw with Preston (rightly adding time on for time-wasting tactics by the visitors).

Keith Ballantyne enjoyed the trip down the 1968 memory lane last week and reminded me that Ernie Hunt played in that game at Fulham in April 1968 – his third appearance at the ground that season having appeared for Wolves on the opening day before an early season move to Everton took him back to the Cottage in September. He joined City in March just in time to play there for a third time in the 1-1 draw.

Jacqui Crump asked me for information about a relative of her husband, John Wassall, who played for Coventry City in the 1950s. John Charles Wassall was born in Erdington, Birmingham on 9 June 1933. He was on Coventry's books as an apprentice from around 1949 playing in their Modern Machine Tools team in local Coventry leagues alongside many other talented youngsters on the club's books at that time.

                         John Wassall

He became a regular in the reserve team in the Football Combination in 1953 and over the next four seasons he made 126 appearances for the reserves, the majority at centre half. He got his first team chance in September 1955 at Reading in a Division Three South game (1-0 defeat) as a full back. He made 11 appearances in the first team that season at full-back and a further six the following season. He was released in the summer of 1957 and signed for Southport, then a Division Four team. His stay in Lancashire was brief - he played four games before joining non-league Bromsgrove Rovers in late 1957. I don't have any details of his career after that but believe he died at Rowington near Warwick in 1987, aged 54.