COVENTRY UNITED 3-1 RACING CLUB WARWICK: light-hearted report by THE MOWDOG...

Resilient Racers Rocked By Late Escape of the Cagemen…

Coventry United 3-1 Racing Club Warwick

Warwick suffered an early setback, recovered to regain parity and proceeded to frustrate Coventry with some resolute defending and some enterprising play of their own. Their ‘keeper, Conal Dowling, made three wondrous saves to deny Josh O’Grady twice and also Muzi Nduna. Matt Brown struck the Racers’ crossbar but RCW were often dangerous too and home goalie Rich Morris made a fine reaction block with the score at 2-1, late on, which enabled the hosts to settle things with a clever Nduna goal from a very late corner. True, United missed more chances than their hard-working guests, for whom strikers Jamie Smith and Wade Malley were often threatening and midfielders Chris Hayden and Terence Morton in particular were effective but the sheer bludgeoning offense by The Cagemen, even when not playing well, often wins games on poor surfaces and in poorer light. More balance was used by Coventry in attack with Nduna on the left, Brown through the centre and O’Grady on the right and indeed, Nduna crowned a decent performance with that vital third goal to break Warwick’s resistance. 

A BIG FLOPPY HAND GREETS THE MOWDOG...

UP FOR IT...

READY TO GO...

Caught cold, Warwick conceded early, when a long and slightly deflected Callum Burgess delivery led to Brown moving forward on the chase, Dowling ran from his penalty-box and arrived at the ball at the same time as the striker, the ball spun behind Brown and he recovered to turn and clip a shot over the retreating ‘keeper and two defenders into the vacant net from 25 yards. Nduna won a corner from Jamie Coleman’s pass but a wasted free-kick by United led to a pass from Smith to free Malley to run after the ball, but Morris, solid in pink, was quickly down to smother the danger. A fine right-wing centre by Glasscoe saw Brown fall forward just a few yards from goal but his low header was straight at the relieved, Dowling, also wearing pink…

BROWN HAS ACCEPTED A GIFT...

...& IT'S 1-0 TO COVENTRY...

Gift Mussa, after a tentative start in the Coventry trenches, then fed Nduna on the left, who cut inside Cam Knight and fired a curling right-footer, which Dowling did so well to reach, diving left and he touched the effort away for a corner, which came to nought. A volley and a low shot by the visitors were easily fielded by Morris but when United failed to capitalise from another corner, Warwick broke out like trapped Cavaliers from a barn, which was being assaulted by Civil War Parliamentary troops. I believe it was Adam Laight’s pass which freed Smith at inside-left, through the cover of Burgess and Martin Hutchcox, but the forward was not to be caught, beating Morris with a measured and smart finish into the right side of the net.

GOAL FOR THE RACERS...

...& SMITH HAS REGAINED PARITY...

Brown then went close twice more with headers, as Coventry battled to regain their slender lead. First, Rich Blythe fed O’Grady, whose cross was just a little too high for Brown and Dowling clutched the lobbed header beneath his crossbar. Then, a fine right-wing centre by O’Grady, with his left boot, found Brown at the far post but this time his powerful header from a couple of yards out cannoned off the face of the crossbar. Blythe was becoming more of a feature in the home midfield and threatened near the left byeline, before the guests cleared the ball but Malley soon fastened onto a loose ball from a throw on the right but sliced a poor shot well wide from an angle. An O’Grady shot was blocked by powerful visiting central defender and skipper Tom Reynolds and Hayden deflected Blythe’s rebound effort, before O’Grady’s skills took him into an angled shooting position but the ball rose over the goal-frame. 

BROWN LURKS NEAR DOWLING...

Hutchcox had picked up a knock for The Cagemen and was replaced by Rob Prinzel, who won a good number of headed challenges during the remainder of the match. A Brown shot was deflected, Dowling batted down a Nduna shot and an angled drive by Blythe on the right took a deflection on its way over the crossbar, as Coventry continued to press. The resulting corner was nearly turned in at the near post by Prinzel but Laight did well to clear the ball to safety. Nduna lost possession after a neat passage of play by United but in attempting to win the ball back, his challenge was crude and he was deservedly cautioned. 

NDUNA APPLIED WIDTH ON THE COVENTRY LEFT ALL EVENING...

NDUNA AGAIN...

The half-time entertainment was provided by the vociferous and woolly-hatted Ross Briscoe, the laughing Pierre Moudime and the returning Josh Blake, who struck one awful shot so wide of the goal that Briscoe appealed to me, hoping I had filmed it… No, my hands were too damned cold. 

Morris bent to collect a downward Malley header from Hayden’s deep free-kick after the break, a fine pass, right to left by O’Grady for Nduna, ended with an over-hit cross from him, decent Coventry play ended with a cross struck too hard by Tommy Glasscoe from the right and then Brown missed a great chance for the hosts. O’Grady escaped the offside trap on the left, pushed a smart pass into the path of the forward, but Brown miscued and Warwick breathed again. Brown was then unable to locate O’Grady in the penalty-area, although Nduna managed a shot off target, then more reasonable good offensive play by Coventry ended with another too hard cross by Glasscoe. Smith did break for a less offensive Warwick but his angled delivery, whether shot, or cross, was tipped over his bar by the alert Morris. The subsequent corner dropped onto the roof of the net.

COX: A ROUSING SECOND-HALF...

William Green replaced Jake Brown for the visitors, Knight drove a long shot straight to Morris, O’Grady fed Brown on the right side of the 18 yard box but the striker’s cross-shot rolled well wide of the far stick. Dowling then raced from goal to kick clear, Cox partially deflected it to Nduna, who passed to Cox but his shot from 30 yards, as Dowling retreated, no doubt having nightmares about Brown’s earlier goal, drifted badly wide. Dowling would soon be warned by the official for wasting some time, which one cannot really blame him for and then Coleman, who had been spoken to minutes before, fouled an opponent and was cautioned. Briscoe then replaced Brown, better Coventry play ended with a powerful Cox drive from 30 yards, which flew past the right upright, Nduna drove wide too and the guests rather surprisingly replaced the speedy, clever Smith with Elroy Junior Bennett.

O’Grady appeared to be fouled by Hayden but the ball rolled on to Bennett, who was splattered by Prinzel, who of course, was booked but with time running on, finally, United took the lead they so desperately desired. Coventry rumbled forward again from a throw, involving Briscoe and Blythe, before Mussa, more effective as the game wore on, fought Viking-like around the edge of the penalty-box but it was Cox who drove on, exchanged passes with Briscoe and then connected with a strong low shot, which was really well saved to his left by Dowling, only for the ball to run loose to O’Grady, old swivel-hips himself, who shot the ball into the net from 5 yards. Relief for the hosts but oddly, what a boost to Warwick!

2-1 & A GOAL FOR O'GRADY...

UNITED RELIEF...

The Racers found another gear, Coventry dropped deeper, looked vulnerable and Warwick pushed forward. A 22 yard Laight drive was deflected up and over the crossbar, as Mussa and Cox challenged, the corner led to a mess, Laight’s low pass across goal found Bennett, whose side-footer was booted from the goal-line by Coleman, I believe, or another Cageman with yellow shoes anyway and suddenly, Bromsgrove’s minds were focusing on United dropping more points. Reynolds had little choice but to scythe down a marauding Cox, to earn a booking, a long pass forward set O’Grady on a path to settle the game but Dowling advanced to make a fine save and deflect the ball wide of the left post with his lower torso and then Morris saved Coventry’s blushes. The ball fell for Malley to turn onto, 12 yards out, he shot hard and low, Morris reacted to beat the ball down, Burgess heeled the loose ball, it struck Hayden’s head and it was smashed away by I think, Prinzel. Breathtaking stuff…

OLD SWIVEL-HIPS WAITS AROUND...

COX CROSSES...

O’Grady and Glasscoe then won a very late corner. It was taken short, almost certainly to waste precious seconds but Glasscoe crossed into the 6 yard box, where Blythe and Briscoe leapt at the near post, the ball dropped, Briscoe hacked at it, Dowling and a defender knocked the ball towards the far side of the rectangle in desperation but Nduna was onto it, showed deft feet and despatched the ball into the right corner of the net and the relief for United was more palpable than a mouthful of prunes releasing long-standing constipation…

3-1...

...& CELEBRATION FOR THE CAGEMEN...

NDUNA THE SCORER...

A late, long Malley throw ended with a hopeful and wayward lob over the home crossbar by a colleague, naughty foot-skills by Briscoe won a free-kick, which led to O’Grady’s dangerous free-kick being flicked on and out for a corner by Reynolds and almost immediately, the referee whistled a stop to the game.

HANDSHAKES & MAYBE SOUR GRAPES...

CONAL DOWLING, RIGHT: A FINE GAME FOR THE RACERS...

 

ROSS BRISCOE (LEFT) DEMANDS TO KNOW WHETHER I FILMED HIS CLEVER BITS...

Warwick had been a severe test for the not-firing-on-all-cylinders United, who have struggled on the damp pudding pitches of January and February. Coventry certainly engineered more chances at goal but I was impressed by the visitors’ willingness to attack at pace and with Dowling making some good saves, anything could have happened late on, as United became nervy and dropped even deeper. A Warwick dugout member was sent away by the referee for comments made, too… 

Cox and Mussa grabbed the midfield area for themselves at times during the final half-hour, O’Grady remained a threat, Nduna looked clever on occasions and Moudime, having worked late, wasn’t needed. Hayden, Reynolds, Morton, Laight and the striking pair of Smith and Malley did well for the Racers and I left the ground knowing that Messi had downed Arsenal on the same night and that I was actually taller than both a goalkeeper and a referee from the same game…

The Mowdog felt tall, although few people spotted me in the gloom…  

THE BODGING LOOKS LIKE HE'S IN THE CARIBBEAN...

TEAMS:

COVENTRY UNITED:

Rich Morris, Tommy Glasscoe, Jamie Coleman, Gift Mussa, Martin Hutchcox, Callum Burgess, Josh O’Gray, Rich Blythe, Matt Brown, Chris Cox (Capt), Muzi Nduna.

SUBS:

Rob Prinzel, Pierre Moudime, Ross Briscoe, Josh Blake, David Allen (gk).

RACING CLUB WARWICK:

Conal Dowling, Cam Knight, Ash Buswell, Chris Hayden, Tom Reynolds (Capt), Rob Campbell, Terence Morton, Adam Laight, Jamie Smith, Wade Malley, Jake Brown.

SUBS:

Elroy Junior Bennett, Frankie Baigent, Tom Evans, William Green, Jamie Vadasz.