Match Thread Coventry City - Stoke City Match Thread - Saturday 6th Jan (11 Viewers)

Manchester_sky_blue said:

Sat here in agony with torn knee ligaments but as long as City hold on I couldn't care less!

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Loved this from Manchester Sky Blue, I'm a Manchester based Sky Blue as well. Hope you are OK , I did the same many years ago.

covcity4life said:

Atmoosherpe was amazing. ❤

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It's english, Jim, but not as we know it

Great_Expectations said:

Agree - I’d like a big away day somewhere. Spurs or West Ham would do - purely for the stadiums.

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Either one of the Manchester clubs or Liverpool would be great. We will probably end up with Preston away though.

Coventry’s FA Cup defeat of Stoke makes Grimmer viewing for Hughes


Coventry 2 - 1 Stoke
FT
FA Cup

Ricoh Arena
Coventry2
Home team scorers
Jordan Willis 24
Jack Grimmer 68


Stoke1
Away team scorers
Charlie Adam 54 Pen


Jack Grimmer, centre, scores Coventry City’s second goal against Stoke City in the FA Cup third round. Photograph: Matthew Lewis/Getty Images
Paul MacInnes at the Ricoh Arena

Sat 6 Jan ‘18 17.08 GMTLast modified on Sat 6 Jan ‘18 17.23 GMT

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Coventry City gave their fans something to jump up and down about as they recorded a memorable FA Cup win over Premier League Stoke City.

The chances of Mark Hughes clinging to his job in the Potteries look ever more remote after this defeat. For the Sky Blues, however, it was a moment of pure joy after a decade of decline with goals from Jordan Willis and Jack Grimmer coming either side of a Charlie Adam penalty.

Relegated to League Two last summer, the club’s lowest position in half a century, the one-time Premier League mainstays have bounced back under Mark Robins this season and sat third in the table going into this match. Robins opted to select his first team, with the addition of a debut for the loanee winger Jordan Maguire-Drew.

Hughes had promised to field a strong Stoke side in this match and at first glance his starting XI looked fit for the challenge. With two strong forwards in Mame Biram Diouf and Saido Berahino, and three experienced Premier League midfielders behind them in Joe Allen, Charlie Adam and Stephen Ireland, it looked like a team up for the fight and enough ability to unlock a League Two defence.

Appearances can be deceptive. Stoke started determinedly enough, Allen and Adam rotating as playmaker and looking to float balls over Coventry’s centre halves, Tom Davies and Jordan Willis. It was their only tactic and a simple one, but it was also effective. Ireland played the pass in the 11th minute that released Diouf and his shot on the spin had to be cleared off the line by Willis. Ten minutes later Ireland should have scored when Adam’s lofted pass was turned into his path by Diouf, only for the Irishman to drag his shot wide of Liam O’Brien’s right hand post.

Ireland’s effort was not a confident one and it turned out Stoke’s initial zest was short-lived. Coventry started to find their feet in the match, putting either Stoke playmaker under constant pressure whenever he was on the ball. On the right flank the fullback Jack Grimmer and Maguire-Drew were making hay against Stoke’s impromptu wingback Ramadan Sobhi.

Grimmer it was who got beyond the Egyptian in the 23rd minute with a direct run before cutting his cross back across goal. Max Biamou met it and laid it on for his partner and Coventry’s top scorer, Marc McNulty, whose shot was deflected behind for a corner. Maguire-Drew took the resultant set-piece and lofted it to the back post where Davies knocked it down for Willis to turn the ball home from six yards.

An already lively Ricoh erupted and the tension amongst Stoke fans was palpable. Groans only got louder when, in the 29th minute, Diouf missed a clear chance to equalise. Sobhi cut the ball back for Adam and his cross found the Senegalese clear at the far post, but he bounced his header off the floor and over the bar.

As the first half eked towards a close, Coventry began to smell blood and twice nearly doubled their lead. First the teenager Tom Bayliss played in McNulty one on one. The striker rounded Jack Butland but hit his shot wide of the far post. Seconds later McNulty was in again and shot on target through Butland only for Cameron to hoof it clear at the last.

It took only seven minutes of the second half for Hughes to hit the big red button marked “Peter Crouch”’. The former England man forced Diouf out to wing-back in a team now playing with four forwards. The change gave Stoke a boost of energy and almost immediately Sobhi won them a penalty, driving into the box and drawing a foul from the goalscorer Willis. Adams stepped up and calmly sent the spot kick low into the centre of the goal to equalise.

Crouch saw a crafty flick at a Sobhi shot fly just wide of the post in the 61st minute, but the energy flash had burned out and back came Coventry with a goal of real quality. Grimmer made and scored it himself, picking up the ball in an apparently innocuous position halfway inside the Stoke half in the 68th minute. The Scot, once Aberdeen’s youngest ever player, put his foot on the gas and cut inside. He lost Sobhi, evaded Allen and from the edge of the box cracked a shot that whipped past Butland and inside the goalkeeper’s left post.

Maxim Choupo Moting and Xherdan Shaqiri joined the fray to make it six attackers on the pitch for Stoke and things started to get hectic. Crouch had a 25-yard volley punched clear by O’Brien. Berahino, soon approaching the two-year anniversary of his last goal, had all the time in the world to place his shot from inside the box in the 78th minute, but saw it blocked by a sliding challenge. The same happened to Choupo-Moting’s follow-up effort.

With the clock ticking down Shaqiri saw a volley blocked, Crouch another volley saved and Diouf somehow contrived to miss a header even easier than his first. But Coventry’s resolve and organisation saw them through for an achievement lapped up by a crowd of 14,000.

CovisGod said:

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but.......

We're going to win League Two, The FA Cup, The Champions League, The World Cup, The Eurovision Song Contest, The X Factor, The Grand National and Crufts.

PUSB

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Hang on a minute while I write all this down............ then I'm off to the bookies first thing on Monday! I might just throw in the Wimbledon Men's Final for extra odds!

What a day! Pure guts, determination and endeavour by all of our boys today. They were there for the taking but we had to be up for the challenge and we certainly were!

I wasn’t arsed with the game, league was priority but this could be the shot in the arm we need to keep going

Great... just got in... great result..

sw88 said:

Full time

2-1

Get in there!!

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Nice one SW88, followed the game in a Bathroom shop. Just about to pay but watching the SBT thread. Handing over 860 pounds was fine with news like this!

play_in_skyblue_stripes said:

Loved this from Manchester Sky Blue, I'm a Manchester based Sky Blue as well. Hope you are OK , I did the same many years ago.

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Cheers dude. Technically I'm a Peak District Sky Blue these days but Manchester is near enough. Knee hurts like buggery if I move so I've been forced to sit on my arse with full control of the remote while the missus fetches the brews. Obviously it's terrible but what can I do.

play_in_skyblue_stripes said:

Nice one SW88, followed the game in a Bathroom shop. Just about to pay but watching the SBT thread. Handing over 860 pounds was fine with news like this!

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£860???!? Hope you got a free happy ending!

CovisGod said:

I don't want to get ahead of myself, but.......

We're going to win League Two, The FA Cup, The Champions League, The World Cup, The Eurovision Song Contest, The X Factor, The Grand National and Crufts.

PUSB

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Prediction wont win X Factor, likely to end soon. All others certainly there for the taking

Manchester_sky_blue said:

Cheers dude. Technically I'm a Peak District Sky Blue these days but Manchester is near enough. Knee hurts like buggery if I move so I've been forced to sit on my arse with full control of the remote while the missus fetches the brews. Obviously it's terrible but what can I do.

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Yes milk it tonight. I'm on to my 2nd beer already and some more available.

Manchester_sky_blue said:

£860???!? Hope you got a free happy ending!

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You can live in hope.

Great result. Got a nice little head of steam building up to take into the new year.

Keep most of our decent players and add one or two more and I reckon autos is there for the taking.

Coventry City 2-1 Stoke City

First highlights on BBC site. (apologies if already posted)

meltdown on the stoke forum.

COVENTRY CITY v STOKE CITY | Oatcake Fanzine

Grimmer was my MOTM and bayliss is clearly a very gifted footballer .

Good day all round all the lads did the club proud PUSB

IrishSkyBlue said:

anyone know how much we would get for going to the next round or what we made from this?

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FA Cup – Round 3 32 £67,500
FA Cup – Round 4 16 £90,000
FA Cup – Round 5 8 £180,000
FA Cup – Round 6 4 £360,000

its better than nothing add it with the gates its a nice bit for a league 2 club

ccfcchris said:

meltdown on the stoke forum.

COVENTRY CITY v STOKE CITY | Oatcake Fanzine

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Joey Barton saying it as it is...
'He should be replaced' - Joey Barton gives damning verdict on Mark Hughes' future after Coventry defeat

Wow, what a result. Was listening on 5L and our fans sounded defeaning! Commentators impressed with Davies and Bayliss.

hill83 said:

Decent

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Don't go over the top

Brilliant from the lads - I’ve lost my voice.

Big prem team home or away please....

IrishSkyBlue said:

its better than nothing add it with the gates its a nice bit for a league 2 club

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Aye, add the 67K from today's win to the 45K we've already earned from winning 1st and 2nd round games and it's already decent, even without gates receipts.

early contender for the 2018 @sw88 typo of the year award

clint van damme said:

early contender for the 2018 @sw88 typo of the year award

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lol

glasgowfan said:

It's english, Jim, but not as we know it

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Says a Glasgow fan

Highlights for those outside UK:

Gazolba said:

Highlights for those outside UK:

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The 4 blocks were fantastic

Wow, boys literally became men today. Very proud of them.

I’ve been travelling today and just got back home.

It’s a great result - I think fans really need to appreciate where the club is now and get an understanding of how massive an achievement it is for very lowly paid players to achieve such a result.

I think it’s especially great for those who are too young for the premier days. They’ll see a lot of national media discussing the club and they will see them being the main match on Match of the Day.

I hope the club gets another big game for the next round. Again it will give younger supporters a flavour of what I’ve had for the first 30 years following the club.

mrtrench said:

The prize money isn't great until the very late stages - the majority of the benefit is gate money. I reckon a total of £225k benefit from today.

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This article seems pretty authoritative, covers all the bases.
FA Cup 2018 Prize Money & TV Revenue Breakdown

Gazolba said:

Highlights for those outside UK:

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Much appreciated mate great watch

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

Grendel said:

I’ve been travelling today and just got back home.

It’s a great result - I think fans really need to appreciate where the club is now and get an understanding of how massive an achievement it is for very lowly paid players to achieve such a result.

I think it’s especially great for those who are too young for the premier days. They’ll see a lot of national media discussing the club and they will see them being the main match on Match of the Day.

I hope the club gets another big game for the next round. Again it will give younger supporters a flavour of what I’ve had for the first 30 years following the club.

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Good post , it’s the way a lot of us experienced