Preston hoodoo continues against 10 men

Just when Coventry City fans thought that the Preston hoodoo was about to be ended, with the opposition down to ten men and a 1-0 lead, a brief loss of concentration gave the home side an equaliser. Many fans would have taken a point at kick-off against one of the best home sides in the division but at the end of the game there was a sense of disappointment and a feeling that two points had been dropped. It's now 24 league games at Deepdale without a victory with nine draws and 15 defeats. One wonders if the Sky Blues will ever get their first win at North End.

Liam Lindsay, red-carded for fouling Haji Wright late in the first half, set an unwanted record by becoming only the second opposition player to receive two red cards against the Sky Blues. Previously, Lindsay got his marching orders in the 84^th minute of the City v Preston match at the CBS in 2022 for a second yellow for a foul on Viktor Gyokeres with the score 0-0. There was drama however in the last few minutes of the game with Fankaty Dabo conceding an 89^th minute penalty and also receiving a red card. Daniel Johnson converted the penalty kick seemingly to win the points for Preston but Fabio Tavares had other ideas. Brought on as eight minutes added time commenced, the young striker hit a spectacular goal in the 98^th minute to earn a deserved point for the Sky Blues.

The other double red card man was Chris Whyte who was sent off playing against City for both Arsenal and Leeds United. In 1984 he received his marching orders in Arsenal's 4-1 win at Highfield Road during the period that Bobby Gould's men were tumbling down the table. Whyte, who later played a single game for the Sky Blues on loan in 1995, scored the first Arsenal goal and Stewart Robson, another who later played for City scored the second before taking over in goal after Pat Jennings was injured. Whyte's red card was given after he retaliated to a Graham Withey challenge.

Then, in 1993, Whyte was centre half in the Leeds team that drew 3-3 with City in the final game of the season. He was ordered off after 60 minutes after his second offence with Leeds losing 2-1. Peter Ndlovu added a third to earlier goals by John Williams and Micky Quinn before, in a frantic finish, Rod Wallace scored in the 89^th and 93^rd minutes to complete a hat-trick and earn a 3-3 draw.

Lindsay is the fourth opponent to be red carded this season – the other three have all been at the CBS – and the first time the Sky Blues haven't gone on to win the game. City have, to date, not received a single red card this season. 

Some fascinating stats

It's been a fascinating few weeks on and off the field and I thought it would be useful to recap on some of the interesting stats that been cropped up in recent weeks. Let's look at the recent games that the Sky Blues have been involved in.

Preston (away): another defeat at Deepdale, City's unhappiest away ground. The 1-0 defeat, unlucky I would argue, extended the Sky Blues run without a league win there to 23 games. Eight draws and 15 defeats since the first meeting in 1949. It's also 22 league games at any venue since the Sky Blues lowered Proud Preston's flag – Dele Adebola and Michael Doyle the scorers in a 2-1 win at the Ricoh Arena in 2007.

QPR (away): In the 113^th league meeting against the Londoners (City have not met any club more) City came away with a draw. They have won more away games at QPR than any other opponent (17) but failed to make it a hat-trick after the last two comprehensive victories.

Luton (home): Despite a good first half performance the Sky Blues trailed 0-2 at the break. Then, with a stunning comeback, they turned the game on its head with three second half goals to break a poor run against the Hatters. It had been 10 games, including the play-off final two years ago, since City had beaten the Bedfordshire club. The last victory was the 3-0 at Kenilworth Road in League Two in 2017 when Mark McNulty, Jordan Shipley and Duckens Nazon scored, the latter two in injury time. Up until 2007 City's home record against Luton had traditionally been very good (only two losses in 32 games) but since the 1-0 win in 2007 Luton had not been beaten in five visits (three draws and two losses). Coventry comebacks from a two-goal deficit are rare (only 10 in the last 54 years).

Sunderland (away): Another comeback, this time from 0-2 to draw. This was the fourth time in four seasons (five if you count the FA Cup semi final) that the Sky Blues have achieved this feat the others being Blackburn (away) and Bournemouth (away) in 2021-22 and Watford (home) in 2022-23. The result extended the Sky Blues excellent record against Sunderland to nine unbeaten and five unbeaten at the Stadium of Light. The last time City lost to Sunderland was in February 2007 when Roy Keane was in charge of the Black Cats and goals from Dwight Yorke and Carlos Edwards gave them a 2-0 win. City haven't lost at home to Sunderland in 12 home games stretching back to 1985 in the old First Division. The attendance at the Stadium of Light was 43,374 was the largest league crowd to watch the Sky Blues since they left the Premiership 23 years ago, topping the 41,216 that watched the Sky Blues 3-0 win last season.

Jim's column 3.9.22

The Preston hoodoo continued on Wednesday night in the opening home game of the season. The curse of Deepdale is well known (no league wins in 20 visits) but the home record against Preston this century is also appalling with no victories in the last nine meetings. The last league victory over the Lancastrians was in September 2007 when late goals by Dele Adebola and Michael Doyle gave Iain Dowie’s Sky Blues a 2-1 victory. Since then there have been nine home meetings (including one at Sixfields and one at St Andrew’s) that have yielded five draws and four defeats. That makes 18 league meetings in total without a win for the Sky Blues with a solitary 3-2 EFL trophy win in 2013.

Preston’s manager Ryan Lowe loves putting one over the Sky Blues. As a player he scored seven goals in seven appearances against City including two for Bury in a League Cup shock in 2011 and a hat trick for Tranmere in a 5-1 hammering at Sixfields in 2013 - the last home hat trick conceded by the Sky Blues. He didn’t fare too well in his final season in 2015-16; he was in the Crewe team defeated 5-0 by City at Gresty Road and just over a month later had moved to Bury and was in the side thumped 6-0 by the Sky Blues.

Last Saturday the Sky Blues were beaten 3-2 at Hull and were on the wrong end of a hat trick by Oscar Estupinan. The Colombian striker became the first opposition player to score a hat trick against the Sky Blues during the five-year Mark Robins era. The last opponent to score three in a game was Northampton’s Keshi Anderson in a 3-0 defeat at Sixfields in March 2017 - a game remembered for an early red card for Jordan Willis and serious disruption to the game by protesting Coventry fans. Oscar is also the first Hull City player to score a hat trick against City.

As I write this the sad news has come through that former City goalkeeper Bob Wesson has passed away. Bob, who was 81, was City’s regular ‘keeper in the early sixties and played in the great FA Cup run in 1963 and won a Third Division championship medal the following season. He made 156 appearances for the club before losing his place to Bill Glazier and moving to Walsall where he played over 200 games for the Saddlers. I intend to do a full tribute to Bob next week.

Jim's column 30.10.2021

Richard Owen was in contact recently to tell me that his father Rod is soon celebrating the 70th anniversary of his first Coventry City game and asked me to confirm the details. Rod remembers it as a game just before Christmas at home to Notts County when County's star centre-forward Tommy Lawton scored in a home defeat for the Bantams.

                                     Tommy Lawton

Rod thought it was 1951 but after checking the records I was able to confirm that it was 16th December 1950 making it 71 years since his first game. Two weeks ago I wrote about the eight game winning start to that season and City went into that game having not lost at home with nine wins and one draw and second in the table behind Manchester City.

On a snow covered pitch with blue chalk marking the lines the surface was treacherous but Lawton, more renowned for his heading ability, skated over the icy pitch in the first minute and netted with a low shot. The former England striker made it 2-0 after 15 minutes following another City defensive mistake on the slippery ground. Bryn Allen pulled a goal back in the second half and though City piled pressure on the Notts defence they held out for a 2-1 win to end City's unbeaten home record. In those days the last two Saturday's before Christmas were notorious for lower than average attendances and the club must have been pleased with the gate of 25,102.

Tommy Lawton was a prolific scorer before and after World War Two. Signed by Everton as a 17-year-old in 1937 he scored 34 goals as Everton won the league title in 1938-39 and after the war he played for Chelsea, Notts County, Brentford and Arsenal, making his last appearance in 1955 two weeks before his 36th birthday. He scored 22 goals in 23 full internationals in an England shirt and 24 goals in 23 games in war-time internationals. A true giant of the game.

Richard says that his dad tells him that he used to sneak in as a lad when the turnstile operators turned a blind eye occasionally! Richard continues: 'He was a policeman in Coventry, Warwickshire and Birmingham from the 1960s into the 1990s so policed occasional Coventry games as well as Birmingham City. It was actually through Blues that he got us Cup Final tickets in 1987. He started taking me and my sister in the late 1970s and we went together right into the mid-1990s when I went to the USA. But he kept going with friends of mine and I rejoined him on my return in 2008. When we got relegated to the fourth tier he almost retired having got back to where he started, but Mark Robins has given him a new lease of life and is going now with my 6-year-old lad and the thought of making the trip back to the top for the second time is keeping him going!'

Even though it is 71 years and not 70 Richard is hoping to do something special for the Stoke home game just before Christmas.

Jon Burton had some interesting questions for me recently. He wanted to know which City players had scored 40 or more goals in a season as well as the youngest and oldest players to score hat-tricks for the club.

Clarrie Bourton is the only City player to score 40 or more league goals – he scored 49 in 1931-32 season and 41 the following season. He was a veritable goal machine and went on to net 189 goals in league and cup for Coventry.

The youngest hat-trick scorer is Adam Armstrong, on loan from Newcastle, who was a month short of his 19th birthday when he scored three goals in the 5-0 win at Crewe on New Years Day 2016.

The oldest is probably George Lowrie who was 33 years and three months in February 1953 when he scored three goals in a 4-1 victory over Millwall in a Third Division South match. Lowrie was in his second spell with the club having joined in the summer of 1939 as a 19-year-old and having to wait seven years for his full debut! He was a prolific scorer for the City immediately after the war, scoring 47 goals in 56 games, including five hat-tricks in 1946-47, and earning a big money move to Newcastle United. The move to the North East didn't work out and following a spell at Bristol City he rejoined Coventry in 1952.

One of these days, perhaps not in my lifetime, the Sky Blues will win at Preston! Not for the first time City took the lead there with a stunning shot from Tyler Walker only to be pegged back and beaten by a lively home display in the second half. The Deepdale hoodoo continues and City have now failed to win in all 20 league visits there.

If you have a question about the history or statistics of Coventry City please drop me an email at clarriebourton@gmail.com and follow me on Twitter @clarriebourton

Jim's column 9.11.13

The Sky Blues win at home to Notts County was the first time in almost three years that the team have won three consecutive league games. They didn't manage it under Andy Thorn or even Mark Robins in that golden period last November & December when sadly the home form let them down.You have to go back to the Aidy Bothroyd era to find the last three in a row. On 20 November 2010 Burnley were beaten 1-0 at home thanks to a Michael Doyle goal. A week later a Gary McSheffrey goal  & a Joe Murphy own goal saw City win 2-0 at Scunthorpe. Then Middlesbrough were beaten 1-0 at the Ricoh with Marlon King netting his first Coventry goal from the penalty spot. Those three victories lifted the Sky Blues into fifth place in the Championship, the highest position the club have been in during the last six years. Unfortunately the wheels came off after that & the team went ten games without a win and Bothroyd's days were numbered.

You have to go back to 2002 to find the last time City won four league games in a row. That was in the Gary McAllister era and part of a magic month of December when the Sky Blues followed away wins on consecutive Saturdays at Stoke & Wolves by beating Derby & Reading at home. The wins lifted the team to sixth place in what was then called Division 1 but like 2010 it was the pre-cursor to a massive slump. Following the 2-0 win over Reading on Boxing Day, McAllister's men won only one further game all season and none at home. The club's financial situation was critical & McAllister was forced to play youngsters & loanees few of whom were good enough to avert a slide down the table to a final position of 20th.

Damian Kimberley pointed out that the Sky Blues have netted three goals in each of the last three home league games & wondered when they last achieved that feat. To find when City last scored three or more in three consecutive home games you have to go back 34 years to 1979 & the Gordon Milne era. In April 1979 City beat Southampton 4-0 thanks to an Ian Wallace hat-trick and ended the season with a 3-0 victory over Leeds (Barry Powell 2 & Gary Bannister). Then in the opening home game of the following season Bristol City were beaten 3-1 (Tommy English, Powell & Tommy Hutchison).

Keith Ballantyne e-mailed asking the question: 'aren't Preston North End one of our real hoodoo sides? I have a vague recollection of us playing them in a winter fixture, and seem to remember that it may have been the game where the Highfield Road pitch was cleared of snow and promptly froze solid, but it was decided that if the snow was put back on it would be playable; it was and the game went ahead. I've got a feeling it was 1965-66 and George Hudson featured on the scoresheet. I hope that you can enlighten me'

Keith is correct regarding the hoodoo. City have never won a single league game at Deepdale in 16 visits stretching back over 60 years but did win Cup matches there in 1909 & 2000. At home the Sky Blues have a better record but have still only won two of the 12 league meetings between the clubs since 2001. They beat Preston 4-1 in 2003-04 (during the Eric Black era) and 2-1 in 2007-08, all other games have been drawn or lost.

The game on an icy pitch that Keith remembers was at Christmas 1964 when the Sky Blues beat Preston 3-0 with goals from Ernie Machin, Hudson & Willie Humphries. It was one of Hudson's greatest games in a Coventry shirt. His chip for his goal was reminiscent of Moussa's recent effort against Leyton Orient & he made the two other goals with delicate flicks. In the Coventry Telegraph match report Nemo wrote: 'How many of the game's finest ball artists could have turned on a performance such as this unpredictable man Hudson did last night? Ninety-five per cent of what he achieved was accomplished to perfection.'

Follow me on twitter @clarriebourton