CITY 2 COVENTRY 0
When did you last attend a City match over half-way through the season when 6 of our players made their home debut? Probably never! Yet that was the bizarre situation we experienced going into the relegation battle against local rivals, Coventry. Four players made their full debuts – Alnick, Bori, Oakley and Laczko – and Howard and Hayles, who came on as an 85th minute sub, were playing at the Walkers in City colours for the first time.
No wonder there was a real buzz around the stadium for the first time in a long time with a mixture of excitement, anticipation and tension as the game kicked off on a sticky surface that gave the players little help. Laczko immediately introduced himself to the fans with two half-chance goal attempts in the first three minutes both from deep inside Coventry's penalty area. This came as a shock to City regulars who are not used to our wide midfielders getting as far as the opposition's box!
The opening minutes set the pattern for the whole game as City surged forward at every opportunity and Coventry grittily defended. An early goal was clearly going to be invaluable for a team which had never played together before and to settle the nerves of the crowd who have witnessed numerous previous false dawns.
It duly came in the 11th minute and was the result of determined, skilful play from a group of players wide left and not far from the 18yd line. Laczko, Mattock and Kisnorbo all made contributions before the ball went to Hume on the edge of the area; he slipped a delicious ball through to Howard who was through on goal. He never looked like missing and slotted it coolly into the net for his first Foxes' goal…..
The rest of the match continued in the same vein as the opening minutes with City pouring forward and playing through the midfield with Coventry replying by playing in the way we have previously had to do when we had only a token presence in midfield – they punted the ball up to their front-runners, Adebola, Best and Mifsud. Adebola, who must have come close to setting a league record for being offside, was extremely physical and credit is due to all the back four who stood up to him and yielded nothing. Best only lived up to his name in the air with several excellent flick-ons whilst Mifsud, who I feared could damage us with his eye for a goal, was virtually anonymous and never threatened.
The game in the first half did not flow as much as we would have liked, partly due to the persistent offsides from both sides, partly due to the state of the pitch and because the referee blew whenever there was the slightest contact – in a local derby! Fortunately the referee changed his approach in the second half and the whistle was less frequent though the offsides were not!
Coventry's one and only chance came not long after our opening goal when a long punt downfield was shadowed back to the keeper by Stearman. Alnick advanced without total conviction perhaps unsure as to whether the ball would get into the area and in the end they left the ball to each other. The predictable result was that Coventry got their first chance.
The ball initially stuck in the mud before squirting out to Adebola who had the goal at his mercy with defenders scrambling desperately to get back. Adebola somehow managed to hit the outside of the post with a powder-puff effort when most parks' players would have burst the net. You sensed then that this was going to be City's day! Coventry never managed another shot on goal or even at goal for the rest of the match.
City were well worth their half-time lead and could have had more than the solitary Howard strike. We never fully opened them up again but it was vastly encouraging to see shots raining in from both front men and all four midfielders. Coventry hung on like a boxer shipping punishment and were glad to hear the half-time whistle. City were warmly applauded from the field and deservedly so.
The second half gave Coventry no respite and the only surprise was that they hung on for so long before the knock-out blow came. As always you worry when territorial superiority is not turned into goals and knowing what happened against Charlton did not make things any easier to bear as half-chance after half-chance went begging. Coventry almost came close to finding where our goal was when a break down the right led to Kisnorbo being harshly booked, the only booking of the game, when he was adjudged to have handled a cross. The resulting free kick went straight out for a goal kick!
With 10 minutes to go Laczko went off with cramp and was replaced by the veteran Hayles with Hume moving to wide right and Bori switching flanks. Hayles had not been on the field for 5 minutes when Coventry centre-back, Turner, lost the ball to him leaving Hayles with a clear run in on goal.
Konstantopoulos, whose name I had managed to keep out of this piece until now, got a hand to Hayles low shot and the ball crept agonisingly slowly towards the goal. A defender raced back to clear but the ball just crossed the line before he accidentally made certain by smashing it into the net. Game over!
One game does not make a season but this was City's best display for a long time. Better than the Watford game as we threatened throughout and were always much the better side. The crowd, who had given great support particularly in the second half, roared their approval for Ollie's New Model Army and went home very happy. The entire team played well with no obvious weak links and this is a side worth watching as well as supporting.
So what sort of first impression did each of the new players make? Alnick had the least opportunity to shine as he did not have a shot to save, given that he was nowhere near the goal when Adebola (same guy who scored a wonder goal against Blackburn last week) hit the post. Alnick's much-vaunted kicking was decent but no better. On the positive side he looked a commanding presence with confident body language and he will be given sterner tests than this.
Bori was an interesting choice to start given that he has said – in Hungarian – that he needs to be fitter for the English game. He is slight of build but well balanced and has a very good first touch and a good football brain. No great pace but will take players on and crosses particularly well. He seems to have a good engine and got up and down the pitch well in spite of his misgivings about his fitness level. He supported the front men well and had three attempts on goal himself. Above all he held his wide position whenever possible and this created more space elsewhere.
Oakley made a huge difference to midfield which for so long has been almost a no-go area for us. He brought the best out of Clemence who had his best home game for City and I particularly liked the way Oakley did not immediately release the ball as soon as he was challenged but simply turned to make space and then found a man. He too covered a lot of ground and gave excellent support to the strikers.
Now we come to the real star of the show, Laczko. Man Utd have Ronaldo but we have Laczko! I mentioned at the start that he was in the thick of the action in the first few minutes and he continued in similar vein. He crosses well when playing out wide but takes every opportunity to get inside and have a crack at goal.
His confidence grew in the second half when he showed us some Magyar magic with fancy footwork and a series of stepovers. Unfortunately the state of the pitch turned his stepovers into fallovers but we got the idea! What I most cherished were two fantastic through balls, the like of which I have not seen since Berni Kelly in the 1950s!! Laczko will become a real crowd favourite especially as he does not flinch a tackle and is prepared to defend as well as attack. Very promising!
Laczko – excellent debut to excite the fans (‘Picture courtesy of Raymonds/lcfc.com)
With Howard what you see is what you get. He challenged well and used his physical strength to hold the ball up. The most important thing was that he took his best chance as a striker should and that gave confidence to the whole team.
Hayles has been a decent player and it still shows. He has no pace now but he could give the other strikers a master-class in how to time your run to avoid offside. Like Howard he took his chance well, he makes good use of his upper-body strength and still has a clever football brain. He is not a suitable partner for Howard as neither has sufficient pace when paired but Hayles can do a short-term job for us without doubt.
I will miss the next home game as I am on holiday. Before yesterday I was glad at the thought of being spared the sight of us toiling against sides with the population of greater Loughborough but after this performance I have had a change of heart.
I only hope that the crowd for the next game will considerably exceed the 24 000 who watched the re-awakening of a Championship giant. Ollie's new team look as though they are going to be well worth watching.
City: Alnick, Stearman, McAuley, Kisnorbo, Mattock, Bori, Oakley, Clemence, Laczko (Hayles 81), Hume (Wesolowski 90), Howard
Booked: Kisnorbo. Goals: Howard 11, Hayles 85.
Coventry: Konstantopoulos, Osborne, Ward, Turner, Borrowdale, Birchall (Simpson 38), Hughes, Thornton (Davis 78), Mifsud, Best (Kyle71), Adebola
Att: 23,905 Ref: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire).
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation