Coventry's lack of penalty box prowess was evident at Highfield Road where the
Sky Blues all but smothered the opposition with pressure but proved unable to
finish off Watford.
The encounter had promised much in the way of goals - especially during an
open first half - but the Midlanders were destined to fire only blanks with
their best effort, produced by midfielder Youssef Safri, rebounding from the
Watford woodwork.
There had been a scare for the hosts early in the game after Gavin Mahon, on
the burst from deep in the Watford midfield, had threatened with an 18-yard
drive which flashed marginally wide of keeper Gavin Ward's goal.
But after having regained their composure, the hosts set the tone for much of
the first-half play by pouring pressure on the visitors' backline.
Sky Blues skipper Mo Konjic was the first to threaten with the Bosnian
international seemingly certain to convert Youssef Safri's left-wing corner
floated to an unattended back post only for the centre-half to somehow avoid
making contact with the ball.
Dele Adebola was the next to go close after Gary McSheffrey's knock-down but a
momentary hesitation from the frontman allowed Jack Smith to close down and
block the eventual effort.
McSheffrey at least worked Hornets keeper Lenny Pidgeley with a snap-shot from
the edge of the box before Youssef Safri, in his last Sky Blues appearance
before linking up with Morocco for the African Nations Cup, saw a stupendous
25-yard effort rebound from the post.
Adebola was again frustrated by Smith close in before, late in the half,
Michael Doyle's effort from the left wing drifted inches wide. Into the second
half and normal service was rapidly resumed by the hosts who saw Dean Gordon
chance his arm with a long-range tilt comfortably collected by Pidgeley although
the Watford keeper needed only to watch with hands on hips as Doyle curled his
20-yard shot well wide.
Watford had previously threatened when captain Neil Cox headed Neal Ardley's
free kick over the crossbar and next Paolo Vernazza would force Gavin Ward into
a low save to his right.
But manager Ray Lewington's visitors soon found themselves under renewed
pressure as Coventry set up camp around the Hornets' box.
There was a halt to proceedings when referee Mike Pike spoke to stand-in
Coventry boss Eric Black who had blown his top on the touchline following Paul
Devlin's stamp-like challenge on Stephen Warnock.
And when play resumed it appeared the hosts had suffered most from the
intermission as their fluency had seemingly deserted them.
Then, with 15 minutes to the whistle, Dele Adebola set up McSheffrey with a
ball across the penalty box only for Ardley to crowd out the Coventry player and
late in the game Julian Joachim slid the ball narrowly wide of the target after
substitute Patrick Suffo had cut open the opposition with a canny slide rule
pass.
Teams
Coventry Ward, Whing, Konjic, Davenport, Gordon, Doyle, Safri,
Warnock (Pead 75), Joachim, Adebola (Suffo 75), McSheffrey.
Subs Not Used: Shearer, Shaw, Morrell.
Watford Pidgeley, Ardley, Cox, Gayle, Smith, Devlin, Hyde,
Mahon, Vernazza (Cook 70), Webber (Fitzgerald 70), Dyer.
Subs Not Used: Chamberlain, Dyche, Brown.
Booked: Hyde.
Att: 12,226
Ref: M Pike (Cumbria).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook