Away Day Wiz Diaries #11 – Coventry

The Blades are back on the road... To success? To victory? No, just Coventry.

Alan Pickard

Did we all enjoy the international break? I imagine most of you don't like them. I don't mind them personally. In fact, I find them quite a welcome and refreshing break from the rigours of following a Championship club. The schedule that follows the latest international break is heavy. It's as heavy as we've had this season so far actually. I've got a funny feeling that this period of the season up until the turn of the year, might be the first instalment of the sorting process: men and boys. 

So we kick things back off again with a trip to Coventry City. First things first, the Coventry City badge. Have you ever looked at it and just considered why? Centre stage is an elephant that appears to carry a castle while standing on a football, flanked by a Phoenix and an Eagle. I suspect the use of narcotics was behind some of that design. But, I suppose, it's not boring? 

To get today's trip kicked off we have to start at 6:55 am to get to the coach meeting point for a 7:30 departure. And Bert the storm (why are we naming weather by the way - odd) was having a right good go at putting a dampener on spirits. Snow, Rain and a very cold wind sweeping across Sheffield did leave me wondering whether we'd actually get on the road. Alas, no such issues and we get off on time, much to my relief.

We're heading to Coleshill pre-match which is actually a brilliant little village… Town? Not sure. But if you're into pub crawls there are 6 or 7 all within a 10-minute walk. We've scoped out 3 or 4 that are gonna be open for our 9:15 am arrival, including a Harvester for a bit of snap. Much to the disappointment of nearly everyone, despite being open, the beer pumps aren't to be of use until 10 am.....! Now, I know how bad that sounds to some of you, but we're a thirsty bunch.

11.30 am soon rolls around, and after a full English and a couple of pints, we're on the road to the stadium. Ahhh, the stadium (Rolls eyes). I've been fairly clear in the past, I don't mind new stadiums. I'm not one of those people who think football should still be played in stadiums that were fit for purpose in 1931. I like new grounds. However — quite a big ‘however’ — when you plonk said new stadium out of town in the middle of Tescos car park, it does wind me up a bit. I'm not going to stoop to calling it soulless though, because now the Coventry fans have decided to end their strike, they do drum up a decent atmosphere. They've had some rough times, of course, but they seem to be over that now.

Getting into the stadium itself was a bit bizarre. Being made to wait for 5 minutes for 2 stewards to walk the coach 75 yards to the car park didn't make any sense. And the queues at the turnstiles were shocking. 5 turnstiles for 3500 fans? Come on. Have a word. 30 minutes we took to get in, missing kick-off despite getting off the bus at 12:00.

The game then. Well, we got a bit of everything. Jubilation, agony, expectation, anger, nerves, finished off with relief that we'd picked up a point. 

We didn't really start very well at all, Coventry looked to have a spring in their step, and they pressed us really well. We just about started to calm down when, against the run of play, Gus slid JRS in down the right who duly put the ball on a plate for Tyrese to send the away end barmy. A really neat goal. Coventry then got an equaliser 9 minutes later. Which they probably deserved. Pantomime villain Basette getting on the end of a cross from the left. 10 minutes later though the Wizards are back in front, Gus yet again sliding Jesurun in who calmly slotted the ball into the corner beyond the grasp of the Coventry keeper. And at this moment, I did feel like we would go on to win. The link-up between Gus and Jes was just too much for Coventry, and I just felt we'd get a few more.

But then. Pantomime villain Bassette, gets in Anel’s head. Anel receives a red card for retaliation. Pushing Bassette to the floor with two hands on the neck. He probably deserved throwing to the ground, but you quite simply can't get away with that nowadays. The half-time whistle sounded and as the players headed to the tunnel the United players seemed to go after Bassette, which I'm all for. Stick up for your pals. The second half was just an absolute onslaught from minute one, and some outstanding bits of defending, coupled with the odd slice of luck, kept us in the lead until the 80th minute when Souttar lost his man from a corner. Free header 6 yards out. Not gonna miss them. 

The international break, in my opinion, will continue to be a problem for us, unless we learn to leave Souttar out until he's fully over the jetlag. He didn't look right at Leeds, and he wasn't at his best at Cov. I don't want that to come across as critical either. The poor bloke’s been half way around the world and back in the past week. It's bound to affect anyone. 

Overall a good point in the end with two home games to come this week. Alternative Man of the Match this week goes to young Billy Gascoigne. Happy 13th Birthday pal. 

See you at West Brom Wiz.