Jim's column 26.3.22

Coventry City threw away a 1-0 lead at Derby last weekend. After Matty Godden and Callum O'Hare combined in scoring a dazzling opening goal the Sky Blues conceded their fifth league penalty of the season and Derby skipper Tom Lawrence duly beat goalkeeper Simon Moore from the spot. This season's other four penalties conceded were:

Luton (a) Elijah Adebayo

Reading (h) John Swift

Bristol City (h) Chris Martin

Preston (h) Damien Johnson

Last season the team conceded 11 league penalties and the subject was one that concerned many Sky Blue fans. This impressive improvement has largely gone unnoticed this season. In 2020-21 those eleven penalties cost City seven points on the basis that without the penalty the result would have been different, so for example, Preston's penalty at St Andrews gave them a 1-0 victory and cost City one point. This season the penalties have cost City four points, two points each at Derby and against Preston with the Reading and Bristol penalties having no effect on the final result.

One common theme about this season and last season is that the opposition haven't missed a penalty. Sixteen penalties conceded, sixteen scored, although Marko Marosi did save one in a League Cup game at MK Dons last season. You have to go back to an away game at Tranmere in January 2020 for the last penalty miss by the opposition when Rovers' Morgan Ferrier blasted his spot kick over the bar in City's 4-1 away win.

It's five years since a City goalkeeper saved a league penalty. That was Lee Burge in April 2017 against Peterborough at the Ricoh Arena. Burge saved Craig Mackail-Smith's penalty before a Ruben Lameiras goal gave City a victory in what was only Mark Robins' seventh game in charge. Six days later the club's relegation to League Two was confirmed. Since then the Sky Blues have conceded 25 penalties and none have been stopped – a pretty miserable record and a long way from 2013-14 when Joe Murphy saved five out of the 11 penalties conceded by the team.

A while ago I had an interesting email from Harry Devey who revealed an interesting fact about former Coventry and England goalkeeper, Reg Matthews:

I played for the Cheylesmore Youth Club Junior side in goal. I had a trial to play for Coventry Boys in 1946 at the Memorial Park on a sloping pitch. The one player who stood out against us on the day was the right winger who was from Foxford School called Tom Cartwright who went on to play cricket for Warwickshire and England.

I got picked to play for Coventry Boys at the Butts Stadium but due to a mix up with the date I didn't turn up. The lad who was picked to play at left back was asked to go in goal and his name was Reg Matthews. As they say the rest is history.

For fans who are interested in the history of the English game there is an excellent new book out telling the history of the FA Cup. The Cup by Richard Whitehead (published by Pitch Publishing) is a pictorial celebration of the competition and coincides with the 150th anniversary of the first final. The large format coffee-table book allows the outstanding photographs, many of which have never been published, to be displayed at their best. All of the glorious photographs have a revealing and sometimes surprising backstory with many featuring fans as well as the heroes of the competition. My favourite is from 1959 of Nottingham Forest's Stewart Imlach smoking a pipe whilst carrying a tea tray down a train corridor. Imlach, who later signed for City, had been the hero of Forest's 1959 2-1 Cup final win over Luton Town.

Coventry City's greatest FA Cup goal sadly doesn't feature – the author explains that he instigated 'the Houchen rule' which involved trying to avoid choosing pictures that were over familiar. The Sky Blues do get several mentions however including a previously unseen picture of Greg Downs holding the Cup aloft.

Jim's column 4.9.2021

Rob Mason is the regular writer for the Coventry City programme and alerted me to an interesting story during the summer concerning City's first England international Reg Matthews. In 1954-55 season Reg, playing for the club in Division three South, had come to the attention of the England selectors. This was in the days when the international team was largely selected by a committee and not the manager, Walter Winterbottom. Under 23 internationals had only started the previous season and in January 1955 Reg was selected for only the second ever game as England entertained Italy at Stamford Bridge. A strong Young England team included Chelsea's Peter Sillett, brother of John, Wolves' Ron Flowers, Fulham's Johnny Haynes and Manchester United's boy wonder Duncan Edwards. England ran out easy 6-1 winners. Interestingly, Reading's Dave Meeson, who joined City in 1962, was an unused substitute.

Three weeks later Reg retained his place as England travelled to Glasgow to face a Young Scotland side. On the day before the match Reg, however, caught the wrong train at Coventry Station and arrived in Glasgow too late to play in a 'warm-up' game against Rangers reserve team at Ibrox.

Everybody but Reg, who arrived later that evening by plane, had a meal and within an hour were playing at Ibrox until, after 25 minutes the game was abandoned due to heavy rain with no score. Sunderland's young wing half Stan Anderson wore the goalkeeping jersey in Reg's absence.

The following evening at Clyde's ground, Shawfield, Young England trounced the Scots 6-0 with Duncan Edwards netting a hat-trick and other goals from Haynes, Bristol City's John Ayteo and Chelsea's Frank Blunstone. That was the final Under 23 game that season and Edwards, Blunstone, Sillett and Flowers all won promotion to the full England team.

The following season Reg won promotion to the full team, making his debut against Scotland at Hampden Park – the first of five full caps. I bet he didn't get on the wrong train again!

Reg Matthews in the England team before his final England cap in October 1956

Paul Wilkinson is a member of the Leamington & Warwick Supporters Club and posed a question during the summer. He has supported the Sky Blues for 50 years and the first match he went to was with his Dad at Highfield Road and it was against Burnley. He thought it was in April 1971 and City won 3-0 but wasn't sure. He remembers that Ralph Coates and Andy Lochhead both played that day.

The game was on 17th April 1971 and City did win 3-0 with second half goals from Ernie Hunt (2) and Billy Rafferty in front of a crowd of 18,365.

The line ups were: Coventry: Glazier: Smith, Cattlin: Machin, Blockley, Parker: Alderson (sub Mortimer), Carr, Rafferty, Hunt, Clements.

Burnley: Waiters: Angus, Latcham: Docherty, Dobson, Nulty: Casper (sub Probert), Coates, Fletcher, Bellamy, Collins.

Andy Lochhead had left Burnley for Leicester in 1968.

Colin Rogers is a Liverpool fan and wanted to know which players had been sent off in games between the Reds and the Sky Blues.

Two Coventry players have been sent off against Liverpool.

Maurice Setters, 22 Apr 1969

Ernie Hunt, 20 Nov 1971

Four Liverpool players have been sent off against Coventry:

Ian St John, 26 Dec 1967

Alun Evans, 22 Apr 1969

Jamie Redknapp, 19 Dec 1992

Rob Jones, 1 Sep 1993

Interestingly all six players were sent off at Highfield Road. No one has ever been sent off in 39 meetings at Anfield.

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