Jim's column 26.9.2020

 Coventry City’s 3-2 victory over QPR in their opening home league match last weekend saw Matty Godden score for the sixth consecutive league game, the first City player to achieve the feat since Mick Quinn in 1992.

Godden’s run started back in February with the second goal in the 2-1 win at Rochdale, continued with the equaliser in the 1-1 home draw with Rotherham and the only goal that defeated Sunderland at St Andrews and sent City top. As the lockdown loomed Matty scored the winner at Ipswich to make it four in a row.

His two goals this season sees him move level with Quinn who had the most incredible start to his Sky Blue career scoring 10 goals in his first six league games.

Quinn’s goal record after joining on loan from Newcastle was:-

Nov 21 Man City (h) lost 2-3 (2 goals)
Nov 28 Sheffield U (a) drew 1-1 (1 goal)
Dec 5 Ipswich (h) drew 2-2 (2 goals)
Dec 12 Southampton (a) drew 2-2 (2 goals)
Dec 19 Liverpool (h) won 5-1 (2 goals)
Dec 26 Aston Villa (h) won 3-0 (2 goals)

Mick failed to net in the next game, a 5-0 defeat at Old Trafford and only scored a further six goals in 20 league games that season.

Matty has a little way to go to set a club record for consecutive scoring league games, 10 set in 1931-32 by the great Clarrie Bourton. Bourton scored in nine in a row the following season and the only other players to score more than Matty are Ray Straw (1958-59) and Terry Bly (1962-63). These records refer only to league games and I should add that Terry Gibson scored in seven consecutive league and cup games in 1985-86 (which included a goal in the now defunct Full Members Cup.

The win over QPR extended City’s unbeaten home record in all competitions to 15 games. Since Tranmere somewhat fortuitously lowered City’s colours in the league game last October, City have failed to lose in 11 league games and four FA Cup ties (I’m following the usual treatment of penalty shoot outs by statisticians and counting it as a drawn game). This is the club’s best run since 1978-79 when Gordon Milne’s exciting team went 15 unbeaten between March 1978 and February 1979. The club record is 19, set in 1925-26 when the club was in Division Three North. The best runs are as follows:-

19- 1925-26 (Div 3N)
17- December 1965-October 1966 (Div 2)
17- 1958-59 (Div 4)
17- 1952-53 (Div 3S)
16- 1962-63 (Div 3)
16- March- December 1950 (Div 2)
15- March 1978-February 1979 (Div 1)
15- 1955-56 (Div 3S)

Colin Heys and Marshall Stewart both had questions over attendances at City games. Colin wanted me to confirm the attendances at City’s Wembley games. These are :

1987 FA Cup final v Tottenham (98,000)
1987 Charity Shield v Everton (88,000)
2017 EFL Trophy final v Oxford (74,434)
2018 League 2 play-off final v Exeter (50,196

Marshall’s question was that given the team are now playing in front of empty stadiums, what are the biggest crowds City have played in from of. Obviously the three Wembley games come out on top but the full top ten are as follows:

1. 98,000 1987 FA Cup final v Tottenham
2. 88,000 1987 Charity Shield v Everton
3. 74,434 2017 EFL Trophy final v Oxford
4. 74,055 2007-08 League Cup v Man United (a)
5. 67,637 2000-01 League v Man United (a)
6. 67,271 1937-38 League v Aston Villa (a)
7. 61,380 1999-2000 League v Man United (a)
8. 60,350 1965-66 FA Cup v Everton (a)
9. 59,451 2013-14 FA Cup v Arsenal (a)
10. 58,351 2012-13 League Cup v Arsenal (a)

The attendances are all the official ones but a few are dubious as in recent years clubs have included season ticket holders whether attending the game or not. The two Arsenal cup games and the Man United League Cup game are examples of this and the official figures are somewhat exaggerated.

Jim's Column 19.9.2020

 Last Saturday’s unlucky defeat to Bristol City ended Coventry City’s fantastic unbeaten run that stretched back to mid-December when City last lost, at Shrewsbury. There are two unbeaten runs worth mentioning, league games and all competitive games. The unbeaten league run ended at 14 games, the club’s fourth best run and bettered only by the 25 game run by Jimmy Hill’s 1967 Division Two champions, the 17 game run in 1937 by Harry Storer’s Second Division team and another Hill run (16 games) in Division Thee in 1962-63.

When runs of all competitive games are compared the 1962-63 team lead the way with 22 unbeaten games which was only ended by an FA Cup quarter final defeat to eventual winners Manchester United. Mark Robins 2020 team were unbeaten in 19 league and cup games (counting the penalty shoot-out defeat against Birmingham as a draw). The great 1967 team had their 25-game league run interrupted by an FA Cup defeat to Newcastle.

City got the shock of their lives at Bristol as Coventry fan Jamie Paterson scored the opening goal in 20 seconds. This was the fastest goal conceded by the Sky Blues since 1995 when Dwight Yorke, then of Aston Villa, headed home in 13 seconds at Highfield Road. Villa went on to win 3-0 that night with Milosevic scoring two late goals. Fast goal times are fairly easy to record in the present day when there are television cameras at every game but in the ‘old days’ it’s hard to be accurate with the times of goals with newspaper reporters usually being the source. In contemporary newspaper reports quick goals are often described as ‘scored in the first minute’. Not very helpful for the football historian.

The only other goal conceded by City in less than 25 seconds was another Villa goal, scored by Cyrille Regis at Villa Park in 1992. That was timed at 21 seconds and for a good part of the game looked to have sealed City’s relegation. Then, well into the second half Notts County, already doomed, came from behind to send Luton Town down instead.

Dave Evans is a Coventry City fan who lives and works in Moscow. He asked a question via the SBI (Sky Blue International), the organisation for overseas City fans. He wanted to know if City’s second kit in 1963 was the green and black stripes.

City had the same 'change' kit from 1962 through to 1969 which was red shirts, shorts and socks. The newspaper colour picture taken at Cardiff in 1967 illustrates the kit. The all red kit was replaced in 1969-70 by the green and black striped shirts with black shorts and socks.

I have to feel sorry for Colin Heys, The founder of the Coventry City London Supporters Club. He informed me last week that the game at MK Dons was the first City League Cup tie he had missed since 1977 when he couldn’t get to Huddersfield for City’s tie at the old Leeds Road ground. I make that 121 consecutive games that Colin saw in the competition and included midweek trips from his Kent home to far flung places such as Morecambe, Scarborough, Chester, Tranmere & Rochdale. 

Jim's column 12.9.2020

 

The 2020-21 football league season starts today with Coventry City playing their first game in the Championship after eight years in the lower leagues. Most fans agree it’s going to be hard for the team to compete against clubs who have enormous budgets and Premiership parachute money however we must have faith in Mark Robins’ management and recruitment to believe that the Sky Blues will make a good fist of their first season back.

The fans of any club winning promotion need to be patient and Marks achievements  in winning a double promotion for Coventry City must be borne in mind. Personally, I would be happy to finish above the relegation three this season and consolidate a position in the higher league.

Today the Sky Blues are at Bristol City’s Ashton Gate for a game which will evoke bad memories of the 2011-12 relegation season for City fans. It was on a miserably wet Easter Monday that City’s relegation was all but confirmed with a defeat to the only side they could realistically catch. Bristol were relegated the following season and we had that famous 5-4 victory over them at Sixfields.

The competitive season kicked off last Saturday with a 1-0 League Cup win at MK Dons thanks to a goal from debutant Tyler Walker who came off the bench to clinch the tie. Debutant scorers off the bench are not that common (Conor Chaplin was the last at Oxford two years ago) and extremely rare in the League Cup with Walker only the second City player to achieve the feat. Robbie Simpson was the first in a home win over Notts County in 2007. Gervane Kastaneer scored on his league debut as a substitute against Bristol Rovers last season but he had already appeared in a League Cup game.

The win at Milton Keynes was the club's first away win in the competition since 2012 when a late penalty from kevin Kilbane saw off Dagenham and Redbridge 1-0. Before Saturday City had played six away games in the competition without progressing:

2012-13 Arsenal (Premier) lost 1-6

2013-14 Leyton Orient (League 1) lost 2-3

2015-16 Rochdale (League 1) drew 1-1 (lost on penalties)

2016-17 Norwich (Championship) lost 1-6

2018-19 Oxford (League 1) lost 0-2

2019-20 Watford (Premier) lost 0-3

Before the Dagenham victory you have to go back to 2007 and that memorable win at Old Trafford for the previous away win.

Declan Drysdale, making only his second senior start, fell foul of the referee last week and was, unluckily in my opinion, given his marching orders. Declan was the eleventh City player to see red in the competition and the first since Carl Baker at Leyton orient in 2013. He joins some famous City players to have been sent off in the competition including Steve Ogrizovic, Davis Speedie, Roy Wegerle, Terry Gibson and Jimmy Holmes.

Thanks to Paul O'Connor for pointing out that it was the first time that City had won a game after having a man sent off when the scores were level since 2004. Then, at Cardiff City, Peter Clarke got his marching orders after just 24 seconds of the game (the fastest red card in the club's history). City's ten men won the game thanks to a Gary McSheffrey penalty in the second half to record a fourth successive away win under Eric Black.

Jim's column 27.6.2020

Many of us have lost friends and relations in the last few months, some from Coronavirus, some from other causes. The CCFPA lost a valuable committee member David Kite who had been such an important figure in Coventry local football for many years and I also lost a close friend, Geoff Moore, who I'd watched the Sky Blues with for almost 50 years, who passed away just before the lockdown.

City fan Paul Garrood lost his father Thomas on the 30th May and sent me a nice tribute that I promised to publish.

Paul writes: He was an avid Coventry City fan who had a season ticket all his life (he was aged 94!) His first season ticket was in 1937, when he was 12-years-old and basically had one every year since, even in the many times of struggle, minus the war years (he was in Welsh Guards for four years) and last year when the club moved to Birmingham and he couldn’t travel. It’s probably very rare to have a season ticket holder for 80 years!

It’s a family joke that he would be famous for shouting “wake up ref” at the start of every game and would have you believe every referee was against Coventry in every game!
It’s obviously a great shame he’s not here to see them promoted this season, although he really enjoyed the ITV re-run of the 1987 cup final, as did most of the city.

He was a Coventrian, born in Hillfields, and has always had the Coventry Telegraph (and the Pink!) for the sole reason of reading the football reports, football news and your column reminiscing on the history of the club.

My dad's parents both died very early, by the time he had turned 16, so he was in a house with his two sisters and two brothers, a stones throw from Highfield Road, in Grantham Street. He was the “father” of the five, with his sister Joan, acting as “mother”. Her son was actually John Bradbury, the drummer in The Specials, who always told me that my dad was so good to him when he was young, like a second father.

He lived in Coventry all his life and worked at Peugeot (and all its previous names) for 50 years!

My Dad was always late, so much so that at work he was called 7.33 Garrood, as he clocked in everyday at the last minute before you would be docked pay! The funny story from Highfield Road, was that he parked his car outside my house in Stratford Street, and would always be rushing down the road to try (unsuccessfully) to make kick off time. One night game, I’d noticed he was rushing as usual , but I thought it was strange, because it was 45 minutes before kick off! When I asked him later, he had the wrong kick off time and thought he was 15 minutes late, when actually he was very early.

Thinking of the football over the years, he really liked George Curtis and George Hudson from the 1960’s, and super Tommy Hutchison, and loved the Ernie Hunt/Willie Carr donkey kick that was outlawed. More recently he liked Dion Dublin and Oggy. A game that sticks in my mind, for him, me and my brother Carl (who sat with dad at games for the last 40 years) was the 5-4 win v Norwich in 1977, with the Blyth penalty save and a wonder goal from Ian Wallace.

His main affection, more than any player, was for Jimmy Hill, he absolutely loved him and had so much admiration for what he did for “his” club. He even went to the Ricoh to see Jimmy unveil his own Statue.

This is my final column of the season and I hope you have enjoyed our trips down Memory Lane. I have still quite a few unanswered questions but keep them coming over the summer and I will answer them when I return at the end of the summer.

Stats Review 2019-20

Stats summary

2019-20

Two years after winning promotion from League Two the Sky Blues under the stellar management of Mark Robins have regained their place in the Championship after eight years in the lower leagues. Following a satisfactory eighth place finish in 2018-19 some shrewd recruitment enabled Mark Robins to tighten his defence, strengthen the midfield, acquire another seasoned goalscorer and inject some all-round steel into the squad.

The best league start since World War Two was personified by thrilling comebacks to beat Blackpool and Wimbledon and for the nine-men to get a draw at Portsmouth. The team had a slight wobble in October with successive defeats to Rotherham and Tranmere but subsequent performances, if not results convinced many that we had a serious promotion chance. Even a third loss at Shrewsbury in December didn't put too many doubts in Sky Blue minds and that loss turned out to be the final one of a memorable campaign.

Whilst the form on the road had been good there had been no wins but the Ipswich Cup replay win started the ball rolling and leaders Wycombe had their unbeaten home run smashed before another comprehensive victory at Tranmere. After that it was down to grinding out the results with seven of the final eight wins coming by a single goal margin and only two points dropped from eight away games. From seventh place after Shrewsbury the team slowly inched their way to the summit. Three crucial home games held the key and City emerged from Portsmouth, Rotherham and Sunderland with seven points that took them to first place.

We would all have liked to enjoy winning promotion under more traditional circumstances and older fans will remember the wild scenes in 1964 and 1967 but no one can say that Coventry City didn't deserve promotion.

Mark Robins' acquisitions were outstanding and blended with the 'old guard' superbly. Admittedly McFadzean and Godden didn't have the best of starts but by Christmas were recognised as key players. Marosi, Rose and Dabo all hit the ground running and Allen, once he had recovered from injury, began to show his class in the run-in. Sadly Jobello got a serious injury whilst Kastaneer has yet to impress. From the League Two side, Kelly, Hyam, Biamou and Shipley all improved and played their part. Sam McCallum had a meteoric rise on a par with Stuart Pearce in 1983-84 and inevitably had to move to a higher level after some stunning performances whilst Zain Westbrooke wasn't far behind in the most improved player category. The recruitment success extended to loan players an area that has not always served the club well. Callum O'Hare and Liam Walsh both had exceptional seasons and rank amongst the best City loanees ever. To put icing on the cake we saw some exceptional goals from several players, my favourite being Biamou's in the Birmingham replay the culmination of a world class move.

The division was a tough one as evidenced by the log-jam behind City when the season was halted. Big clubs like Sunderland and Portsmouth had much greater budgets than City, as did others, yet Robins and his staff put out a real 'team' that competed week in and week out. There was a great team spirit, reminiscent of the Jimmy Hill and John Sillett days and similarly a never-say-die attitude on a par with the teams put out by those other managerial giants.

Several club records set in past full seasons were likely to be broken before the 2019-20 season was ended prematurely including record points, least goals conceded, least defeats, etc. Where the record was 'broken' or there was a possibility of it being broken in the 34 matches played they will be included in the club records with an asterisk to denote the shortened season.

2019-20 Appearances and goalscorers

	PLAYER	LEAGUE			FA CUP			LEAGUE CUP				FLT		SEASONS TOTAL
		A	S	G	A	S	G	A	S	G	A	S	G	A	S	G
Marko	MAROSI	34			6									40	0	0
Fankaty	DABO	32			6			2				1		40	1	0
Michael	ROSE	30	1	2	6			2			1			39	1	2
Kyle	McFADZEAN	28	2		7						3			38	2	0
Dominic	HYAM	28	1	2	6			2						36	1	2
Liam	KELLY	25	2		7			2			1			35	2	0
Sam	McCALLUM	25	1	2	5		1	1	1		2			33	2	3
Liam	WALSH (L)	25	1	3	6	1	1				1			32	2	4
Jordan	SHIPLEY	24	7	5	6	1	2	1	1		1	1		32	10	7
Zain	WESTBROOKE	22	3	4	5	1		1			1			29	4	4
Matt	GODDEN	22	4	14	2	2		1	1	1		1		25	8	15
Callum	O'HARE (L)	18	11	3	2	5	1	1			2	1		23	17	4
Jordie	HIWULA	14	1	2				2		2	1			17	1	4
Amadou	BAKAYOKO	11	12	4	2	3	1	1	1	1	3			17	16	6
Brandon	MASON	10	1		2	1		1			2			15	2	0
Wesley	JOBELLO	10		1				1						11	0	1
Jamie	ALLEN	7	4	1	2	2					1			10	6	1
Maxime	BIAMOU	5	13	4	4	1	4				1	2	3	10	16	11
Josh	ECCLES	1	2			2		1	1		4			6	5	0
Gervane	KASTANEER	1	9	1				1	1		3	1		5	11	1
Tennai	WATSON (L)	1	2								4			5	2	0
Declan	DRYSDALE	1									2			3	0	0
Ben	WILSON				1			2			4			7	0	0
Josh	PASK		2		2		1							2	2	1
William	BAPAGA		1								2	1		2	2	0
Charlie	WAKEFIELD		1								2			2	1	0
Morgan	WILLIAMS										2			2	0	0
Dan	BARTLETT										1			1	0	0
Jodi	JONES					1						1		0	2	0
Jack	BURROUGHS											1		0	1	0
Ryan	GILES (L)		1											0	1	0
Jordan	YOUNG											1		0	1	0
goals	Own						1									1

Games: Coventry City played 47 competitive games, 34 league, 7 FA Cup, 2 League Cup and 4 Football League Trophy (Leasing.com Trophy).

Points: From 34 league games the Sky Blues gathered 67 points – two points more than 2018-19 but still the third best haul since three points for a win was introduced in 1981. A new term 'points per game' entered the football vocabulary because of the curtailed season. City's PPG was 1.971 and was the highest in the club's League history, topping 1966-67 when after adjusting for three points the PPG was 1.952.

Home Form: 11 wins, 5 draws, 1 loss. An outstanding home record was the cornerstone to the Sky Blues' season and I'm certain if the season had been completed the number of victories would have beaten the best since since 1967 which was 14 in 1986-87. Tranmere wrecked the unbeaten run with their undeserved 1-0 win but the sole loss equalled the lowest in a season for the club last achieved in 1967.

Away Form: 7 wins, 8 draws, 2 losses. Whilst the home form set the foundations of a successful season it was the away form after Christmas that took the Sky Blues out of and away from the pack. Despite good away performances in the first half the team put the turbo chargers on after Christmas with a staggering seven away wins out of eight. Three bogeys ended – the first win at Tranmere since 1938, first win at Bristol Rovers since 1964 and rare victories at Rochdale, Ipswich and Doncaster. The lowest number of away losses in a season before this was five (1967 and 1989) and few City fans can think that this record would have not been broken if the season had been completed.

Wins: In total therefore, 18 league victories were recorded – equalling the third highest in the last 17 seasons despite a shortened season. Strangely all but four were won by a single goal and all but one of the 11 home wins by a one goal margin.

Defeats: City lost only three league games out of 34 in the truncated season. The lowest number of defeats in a season is six, achieved from 42 Second Division games in 1966-67. We will never know whether Mark Robins' team would have broken this record but I will record it as a record with an asterisk to denote the shorter season.

Biggest win: The biggest league win of the season was 4-1 achieved in successive away wins at Wycombe and Tranmere.

Biggest defeat: The 0-4 defeat at Rotherham was not only the heaviest league defeat of the season but the heaviest since April 2013 at Walsall.

Goals for: Despite the massive success of the team they weren't prolific scorers and their total of 48 was only the eighth highest in the division. The team went three games without scoring in October but from mid November they scored in every game but one. In total they failed to score only seven times in 34 games.

Goals against: Like previous City promotion teams the success was built on a sound defence with only 30 goals conceded in 34 games, the best in the division. Once again the club record of 38 (set in 1970-71) might well have been broken therefore another asterisk. Marko Marosi kept fourteen clean sheets in the league and it's highly likely that the club record of 18 in a season would have been broken.

Final position: Champions of a division for only the fourth time in 94 seasons in the Football League (1936, 1964, 1967 and 2020)

Leading scorers: Matt Godden was leading scorer with 15 goals, 14 in the league , and one in the League Cup. Max Biamou with eleven goals (but only four in the league) was runner up. Fifteen different City players were on the score-sheet during the season.

Doubles: City achieved three doubles- over Bristol Rovers, Rochdale and Southend (for the second season running). No teams did the double over City, for the first time since 1977-78. Of the sides that City played twice only two sides, Rotherham and MK Dons, avoided defeat against the Sky Blues.

Appearances: Marko Marosi was the first City player to be a league ever present since Joe Murphy in 2013-14. For the ninth season running no outfield player was an ever present in the league – the last to do so was Richard Keogh in 2010-11. Fankaty Dabo made 32 starts with Michael Rose on 30 with one sub appearance. When all competitive games are included Marosi and Dabo both started 40 with Dabo's one sub appearance giving him the edge.

Players used: 26 players were used in league games (six less than 2018-19 and the lowest number since the club left the Premiership in 2001) and a further six appeared only in cup games. Of the 32 players, 18 made their debuts during the season. Three players only appeared as substitues, Ryan Giles, Jordan Young and Jack Burroughs. Five loan players were used: Liam Walsh, Calum O'Hare, Tennai Watson, Ryan Giles and Sam McCallum. In addition to the 32 players used, four more: David Bremang, Cian Tyler, Joe Newton and Blaine Rowe sat on the bench as substitutes but were not used.

Home-grown players: Of the 32 players only four of them were home grown products of the Academy, the lowest number for many years. In the Bolton home game in February no home-grown players were used by the club for the first time in nine years. Academy product Will Bapaga became the fifth youngest player to don a City shirt when he came on at Bolton in August aged 16 years, 280 days.

Records: Only three of the title-winning squad has played 100 games or more for the club: Jordan Shipley (120), Liam Kelly (107) and Dominic Hyam (100).

Substitutes: Callum O'Hare, the Villa loanee, made the most substitute appearances (11 in the league). Zain Westbrooke and Jordan Shipley were the most substituted players (each substituted 19 times in all comps). Callum O'Hare set a club record of four goals from the bench in a season. In all ten goals were scored by substitutes: Kastaneer (Bristol Rovers), O'Hare (at Oxford & Blackpool), Bakayoko (Doncaster), Biamou (Bolton), Godden (Portsmouth), O'Hare & Biamou (at Southend), O'Hare (Ipswich (FAC)) and Bakayoko (Exeter (LC)).This equals the club record set in 2016-17. O'Hare also became only the second City player to score two goals from the bench before his full debut (Chris Maguire). In the FA Cup replay with Birmingham the club used four substitutes in a game for the first time.

Average attendance: Attendances were obviously seriously affected by playing in Birmingham. Home 6,653 (2018-19 12,362) the 14th highest in the division, down 46%. Away 10,292 (2018-19 9,025) , up 14% & the second highest in the division. If away fans are stripped out, City's average home following was 5,629 down 49% from 2018-19.

Highest home attendance: The biggest league crowd was 10,055 for the last home game before lockdown v Sunderland. That gate was boosted by the large away contingent. The previous home game v Rotherham had the highest number of home supporters (7,877) of any home game. The Sunderland gate was topped in the FA Cup 'home' game with Birmingham when 21,193 attended, which included 11,728 Coventry fans.

Lowest home attendance: The lowest league crowd of the season was 4,673 for the Fleetwood evening game in October when the innovative half-time substitutions saw the team's formation change which took the division by storm. In the EFL Trophy there were two low attendances including 375 for the 'dead rubber' with Southampton – a record low for a home game in the competition and the smallest to watch a City competitive home game since 1900.

Away followings: For league games City’s away following averaged 1,876 (2018/19 1,315), an increase of 42%. The best league following of the season was 6,274 at MK Dons. In the FA Cup City had 4,515 fans at St Andrews for the FA Cup replay and 3,515 at Watford for the League Cup tie. The smallest was 519 for the evening game at Fleetwood in February whilst only 340 went to Forest Green for the EFL Trophy game. For the second season running Sunderland brought the most fans (3,323) to a home league game but there were 9,465 Birmingham 'away' fans at the first FA Cup tie. At the other extreme, Fleetwood brought only 196 fans to the league game whilst there were only 7 paying Southampton fans at the EFL Trophy game. The average away following for league games at St Andrews was 1,024, down 14% on the previous season's 1,201.

Highest away attendance: The 29,809 who watched City's game at Sunderland in November was easily the biggest away league crowd more than 10,000 more than the second highest at Ipswich (18,825).

Lowest away attendance: The smallest away league crowd was, for the second season running, at Fleetwood where 2,506 were present. The EFL trophy game at Forest Green was watched by 924.

Won from behind: (5) Five comebacks in a season is the best since Gordon Milne's team in 1977-78 that did six. At the start of this season the Sky Blues had not come from behind to win a home league game since April 2016 so this season's record of four home comebacks is an amazing feat. City came from behind to beat Blackpool, Wimbledon, Fleetwood and Rochdale at St Andrews. They also did it at Bristol Rovers. Against Blackpool the team came from two goals down to win for the first time since 2015-16 (Peterborough). In addition on six occasions the team came from behind to get a draw. Nineteen points were won from losing positions.

Lost from in front: (1) City only lost three league games and only once (at Shrewsbury) did City lose from being ahead. On six occasions City took the lead only to be pegged back for draws and twice lost the lead at Peterborough and Birmingham (FAC) and threw away a two-goal lead at Oxford to draw 3-3. Thirteen points were lost from leading positions.

Best run: The Sky Blues best league run was fourteen unbeaten from mid-December until the end of the season. Following defeat at Shrewsbury they won eleven games and drew three. They also recorded five consecutive league victories – only the second time a Coventry side has achieved that since 1998. 14 is the best league unbeaten run since the Second Division promotion season in 1966-67. The 10-game unbeaten start to the season was the second best in the club's history, only five short of the 1937-38 start.

Worst run: The worst run was four without a win between home wins over AFC Wimbledon and Fleetwood in the autumn when losses were suffered to Rotherham and Tranmere and draws against Doncaster and MK Dons which saw City fall from 1st place to sixth.

Hat-tricks: (3) Matt Godden scored two league hat-tricks (in successive games at Wycombe and Tranmere) and Max Biamou netted three in the Southampton EFL Trophy game. Godden was the first City player to score successive hat-tricks since Darren Huckerby in 1999, the first to achieve the feat in successive league games since Don Dorman in 1952 and the first to score three in successive away games since George Hudson in 1963. Biamou is the first City player to score a hat-trick in the EFL Trophy in the eight seasons that the club have played in the competition and is also the first to score a hat trick in a Cup competition since Gary McSheffrey netted three in a 8-0 home victory over Rushden and Diamonds in the League Cup in 2002-03.

Opposing hat-tricks: (0) No opposing player scored a hat-trick but four scored braces: Kaikai (Blackpool), Crooks and Smith (Rotherham) and Slattery (Southampton EFLT)

Former Players: Only one former player scored against City – Jordan Clarke-Harris who netted in both the league and FA Cup games at the Memorial Stadium, the latter a penalty.

Own goals: For City: (1) Bristol Rovers' Tony Craig was credited with an own goal in the away FA Cup game. He had previously scored at the other end.

Own goals: By City: (2) Fankaty Dabo was credited with two own goals in the 3-3 draw at Oxford, only the second Coventry Player to score two own goals in a game, the other being Roy Kirk at Northampton in 1954.

Penalties: For City: (4) Five awarded, four scored, one missed. Godden scored at Portsmouth, Wycombe and Tranmere, Westbrooke scored at home to Fleetwood, Hiwula missed at MK Dons.

Penalties: Against City: (6) Six opposition players netted from the spot - Forss (AFC Wimbledon), Smith (2) (Rotherham), Maddison (Peterborough), Clarke-Harris (Bristol R FAC), Slattery (Southampton EFLT). Rotherham's Michael Smith was the first opposition player to score two penalties against City since Bradford City’s Tony McMahon in the 3-3 draw at Valley Parade in 2016. One penalty was missed by opponents, Morgan Ferrier at Tranmere.

Fastest Goal scored: Sam McCallum scored after 50 seconds v MK Dons (h).

Fastest Goal conceded: Sullay Kaikai of Blackpool scored after two minutes at St Andrews in September.

Red cards: Coventry: (4): Fankaty Dabo and Gervane Kastaneer (both two yellow cards at Portsmouth), Kyle McFadzean (at Rotherham) and Max Biamou (Accrington h). The Portsmouth game was the first instance of two red cards since James Maddison and Adam Barton were sent off at Doncaster in 2014-15.

Red cards: Opponents: (1) MK Dons' Brennan Dickenson was sent off in the EFL Trophy game.

FA Cup: In reaching the fourth round of the competition the Sky Blues played seven ties in total – the highest number since 1962-63 season. There were three successive replayed ties, Ipswich, Bristol Rovers and Birmingham – only the second time this has happened, the first being in 1974. The victory at Ipswich was the first away replay win in the competition since Woking in 1997. Josh Pask became only the second City player to score a goal on his debut in an FA Cup tie since the club joined the league in 1919, the other was Dennis Simpson against Aston Villa in 1945. The penalty shoot-out in the replay with Birmingham was the first in the competition since 1998 when City lost a sixth round replay to Sheffield United. City have not won an FA Cup tie that went to extra time since 1987 at Wembley!

League Cup: The 4-1 victory over Exeter City in Round One was the biggest win in the competition since Torquay United were beaten by the same score in 2004. Jordy Hiwula became the first City player to score two goals in a League Cup game since Robbie Simpson in 2008 (v Aldershot).

Bookings: Fankaty Dabo clocked up the most bookings, 10. Kyle McFadzean picked up nine. The most unusual yellow card went the Kastaneer who was booked whilst on the bench following the touchline fracas at the Ipswich home league game.

Television: There were two live televised games for the club, both at home, Tranmere and Sunderland .

Captains: City had six different captains during the season, Liam Kelly, who was club captain, Kyle McFadzean, Matt Godden, Jordan Shipley and Michael Rose all took the armband in league games. Morgan Williams captained the team in the final EFL Trophy game at MK Dons.In the home game with Fleetwood three different players wore the armband; Shipley started as captain but was subbed at half-time by McFadzean, who took over duties, but twelve minutes into the second half Kelly came on and took the band.

Awards: Mark Robins was awarded the League One Manager of the Month for February and became the first Coventry manager to win three awards. He had previously won Manager of the Month in December 2012 and October 2018.

Kits: The Sky Blue kit proved to be a very lucky one; it was worn in 23 league games and none of them were lost. The yellow change kit was worn at Rotherham and the Black & White 'two-tone' kit was worn in the defeats v Tranmere and Shrewsbury.

Ground Stat: Gillingham and Tranmere are the only clubs to have played away league games against Coventry on four different grounds: Highfield Road, Ricoh Arena, Sixfields and St Andrews.

Game of the season: There were many memorable games in this memorable season, the home comeback to beat Blackpool, the nine-man comeback at Portsmouth, the Cup win at Ipswich but my vote has to go to the 4-1 victory at Wycombe. Wycombe were league leaders and unbeaten at home and the Sky Blues demolished them. It was the day that many City fans realised that promotion was a strong possibility.

With many thanks to Paul O'Connor.

Dedicated to the late Geoff Moore who passed away in March. A wonderful friend who is missed by all who knew him.