Newcastle only had themselves to blame for wasting a great chance to pick up
only their second Premiership win in eight games when they failed to capitalise
on five gilt-edged second half chances.
Once again Alan Shearer failed to hit the target in the league, but there were
other culprits as Newcastle threw away two more points and could now get dragged
into the relegation battle.
If Dion Dublin was Coventry's star - he was superb at the back but for one
error - the hero for the home side was debutant Nikos Dabizas who got off the
substitutes' bench to excel for Newcastle.
As a possible dress rehearsal for the FA Cup semi-final clash at Old Trafford,
this was a huge disappointment to another sell-out crowd.
Former Magpie Darren Huckerby demonstrated just how far he has come since
leaving St James' but even he was clearly off colour.
His pace was always going to be a key factor but fortunately for Newcastle
they had the pace of Alessandro Pistone, back after a two-match suspension, and
the skill of Steve Howey to combat this.
And Greek centre-back Dabizas made the most of his chance after 30 minutes
after Stuart Pearce was forced out through injury.
It was a very disappointing opening 45 minutes with little quality or goal
opportunities as neither attack was able to get the better of well organised
defences.
Dublin's battle with Shearer and Andreas Andersson was always interesting with
neither of the Newcastle forwards able to get the better of England's newest
squad member.
City started well with former United star Huckerby and his Romanian partner
Viorel Moldovan causing early problems.
On the back of some fine recent Premiership form, Coventry's tough approach
seemed to unsettle Newcastle's build-up play and only rarely did the home crowd
have anything to shout about.
A Temuri Ketsbaia effort in the third minute was thundering goalbound until
Gary Breen got in the way while Shearer headed over in the 35th minute after a
fine Pistone right-wing cross found him unmarked.
However, Moldovan continued to threaten and two minutes before the break he
should have put the visitors ahead.
Huckerby found himself in a two-against-one position and when he threaded the
ball past Howey, it seemed certain the Romanian would score. But he screwed his
cross-shot a yard wide to the disgust of his manager Gordon Strachan.
Thankfully, the second half was much more exciting with Georgian Ketsbaia once
again lifting the crowd.
The bald-headed midfielder went so close in the 60th minute and four minutes
later Ogrizovic somehow parried a Dublin deflection around a post.
Ketsbaia picked the ball up wide on the left, cut across the 18-yard box, and
then smashed in a low drive which Ogrizovic once again excelled to save,
flinging himself to his left.
The star of the show was Greek debutant Dabizas who was strong at the back and
so threatening when he joined the attack for corners.
Once again it did not seem to be Shearer's afternoon. After a fine turn in the
74th minute he blasted a low cross shot past Ogrizovic only for the ball to roll
a foot wide.
Coventry created a late chance, when Norwegian Trond Soltvedt forced a
fortunate stop from Shay Given.
In the final minutes Albert was carried off and replaced by Warren Barton, the
Belgian had injured himself as he fired a drive hopelessly wide.
Teams:
Newcastle: Given, Pistone, Pearce (Dabizas 30), Howey,
Albert (Barton 86), Batty, Lee, Speed, Ketsbaia, Shearer,
Andersson.
Subs Not Used: Hislop, Barnes, Tomasson.
Booked: Albert.
Coventry: Ogrizovic, Burrows, Breen, Nilsson,
Telfer (Strachan 90), Soltvedt, Huckerby, Whelan, Dublin,
Boateng, Moldovan (Haworth 75).
Subs Not Used: Shaw, Williams, Howie.
Booked: Whelan.
Att: 36,767
Ref: P Jones (Loughborough).
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