Jim's column 14.10.23

Two weeks ago I wrote about Matty Godden's excellent scoring record with Coventry City as he edged towards 50 goals for the club. This week I'll move to the other end of the pitch and consider goalkeeper Ben Wilson's record after he made his 100^th appearance for the Sky Blues last weekend.

Wilson, currently in his fifth season with the club, is only the fourth Coventry goalkeeper to reach 100 appearances since the club left the Premier League in 2001. The others are Lee Burge (160), Joe Murphy (156) and Keiren Westwood (138). He's also only the 13^th City keeper to reach a century but he's a long way off reaching Steve Ogrizovic's club record 601 appearances. Before joining the club from Bradford City in July 2019 Ben had made only 35 senior appearances in nine seasons for ten different league clubs and his first season at Coventry saw him play one FA cup tie, two League Cup games and four EFL Trophy games. His first league appearance was as a last minute substitute for Marko Marosi against Cardiff City in November 2020. He kept his place for the remaining 26 games of the season, keeping 10 clean sheets. The arrival of Simon Moore in the summer of 2021 relegated Ben to the bench again and restricted him to five league starts plus two cup games. Moore's poor form at the start of last season gave Ben his chance and he made 46 appearances including the three play-off games, keeping a record 22 clean sheets. Some fans believed Ben was at risk again this summer after the arrival of Brad Collins from Barnsley but Mark Robins has kept faith with Wilson and he has another three clean sheets in the opening 11 games.

Tom Woods asked me to compare Ben's excellent clean sheet record with other goalkeeper's record, especially Oggy's. Comparing goalkeeper's records has to exclude those who made only a handful of games. For instance David Stockdale in 2017-18 played two games on loan and didn't concede a goal and in 1988 Keith Waugh played one game when Oggy was injured and didn't concede. Therefore to have a sensible comparison I have only included 'keepers who have played 20 or more games.

Ben's currently has 40 clean sheets out of 100 games, an impressive 40% and easily the best ratio of all City goalkeepers who have made more than 20 appearances. Oggy's record is less impressive but it should be borne in mind that all his games were in the top flight and for a good number of seasons he was playing in a struggling side. 

Here are the top ten:

                          Games         Clean sheets Ratio of clean sheets

1. Ben Wilson 100 40 40%

2. Ryan Allsop 26 9 34.6%

3. Reice Charles-Cook 59 20 33.9%

4. Bill Morgan 160 54 33.7%

5. Marko Marosi 61 20 32.8%

6. Horace Pearson 124 40 32.2%

7. Bill Morgan 160 54 31.2%

8. Steve Ogrizovic 601 175 29.1%

9. Morten Hyldegaard 31 9 29%

10. Andy Marshall 66 19 28.8%

Last week I wrote about the 104-year record that Coventry City could lose last Saturday when Cheltenham Town went into their home game with Derby County seeking their first goal after eleven league games without one. Then in the 39^thminute Rob Street netted to end the Robins' long drought. The Rams later equalised and the game ended 1-1 but Cheltenham were left with a share in the record of 11 games without a league goal with City and Hartlepool, the latter failing to score in eleven Division 3 games in 1992-93 season.

I was able to check the number of minutes each of the three clubs went without scoring a goal. In 1919 City went 1052 minutes, Hartlepool's drought in 1993 lasted 1072 minutes and Cheltenham's record which included the last two minutes of their final game last season, was 1031 minutes. So Hartlepool hold that particular record. Interestingly in the middle of Hartlepool's dreadful run they defeated Premier League Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Third round and lost only 1-0 at another Premier League Sheffield United in round four. Future City player Dean Emerson was in the 'Pools team during their horrific run and Richard Shaw and Chris Coleman were in the defeated Palace team.

For over 100 years Coventry City have held an unenviable Football League record and this weekend that record may be finally broken. In 1919 the club went 11 league games without scoring a single goal. In 1993 Hartlepool United equalled that record and this week poor old Cheltenham Town made it 11 games without a goal. Today League One Cheltenham face Derby County at home and failure to score will remove City from the record books. The Robins have won just one point and are already seven points from the safety zone with a -19 goal difference. 

 In 1919 City were playing their first ever season in the Football League having been elected to join in the first season after World War 1. They were grossly unprepared for life in the Second Division, evidenced by an opening day 5-0 home loss to Tottenham, and lost their first nine games , scoring four goals and conceding 27. In game eight on October 4th they lost 2-1 at home to Leicester and Tommy Lowes' goal for the Bantams would be their last goal until Christmas Day. In the next eleven games the team did manage to get some points on the board with goalless draws with Fulham, Bristol City, Blackpool, West Ham and Clapton Orient. The 0-0 draw with Clapton on the Saturday before Christmas left City at the foot of the table on five points, five points behind 21st placed Lincoln City. The run of 11 games without scoring ended in surprising circumstances on Christmas Day with top-half side Stoke beaten 3-2. Billy Walker, with a penalty, finally broke the goal drought before Alf Sheldon and Peter Quinn made it 3-0. Stoke rallied with two late goals but City deserved their first ever League victory. Stoke had their revenge twenty four hours later winning the return 6-1 at the Victoria Ground. An interesting footnote is that there was a full league programme on three consecutive days that Christmas!

Things picked up slightly for Coventry after Christmas with a first away win coming at Grimsby on New Year's Day. The signing of Sunderland's reserve centre-forward Dick Parker in January helped results and Parker netted the winning goal against Wolves on his home debut. The club's home form improved dramatically and thanks to Parker scoring seven goals in seven games the last five home games were won. The team only escaped the bottom two after their penultimate game, a 2-2 draw at Bury, and a final day victory over the same team ensured a final placing of 20th with re-election avoided. It later emerged that dirty deeds were afoot at Highfield Road on the final day with Bury players being bribed to ensure Coventry won. Two years later Coventry's chairman David Cooke and captain George Chaplin were banned from football for life following an enquiry.

 Last Saturday the Sky Blues notched their first away win of the season, winning 3-1 at Loftus Road with an impressive second half performance. Poor old QPR, a year ago they were top of the Championship but since then they have won only one home game in 20 and there are few signs that things are going to improve soon. Before April's game City hadn't won at Loftus Road in five visits since 2007 and have now won twice in 2023, one more than QPR have managed themselves!