Coventry 2-2 Bolton - Match Reportt Post #139

Not that chuffed with the result. OK- its good to get a point, but for the second game in a row we've nicked something deep into injury time.
It's not the sort of form that creates confidence.
I guess from here on in we'll have to cling on to Sheffield Utd's coat tails. Hopefully Parkinson will see the folly of playing players out of position( Derek) playing players who's footballing ability is zero ( Trotter) and realising that having a target man (Madine) is only any use if he's got runners alongside him to get the knockdowns.
I'd like to see a lot more of Clayton as a target man in future as he has more ability on the deck than Madine has.

I seriously worried for Parkinsons sanity when I saw the starting XI, Trotters name should never be seen again in the squad never mind the starting XI

karlypants wrote:

Norpig wrote:looks like i'll have to get my FM radio out of the cobwebs. Are we still on GMR?

Are we balls. It's Tower only unfortunately.

Is that deal not just home games

Natasha Whittam wrote:Parky out. Why, oh why bring Trotter back. We'd be better with 10 men.

Or women!

Not sure why Parky changed the team, he could have rested a few next week in the cup game. Trotter is possibly the worst midfielder we've ever had, even the GMR commentators were saying how bad he was and when he was subbed the away end gave him the proper send off he deserved

Question is do we really not have enough strength in depth to maintain a serious promotion challenge? We will get injuries and we will need players to come in to the team, but the way Parky sets them up doesn't seem to suit everyone, although Trotter has no excuses.
I'd have thought that if changes are needed there would have to be some flexibility in the way we play, but I'm not sure Parky has a Plan B.

In my opinion it's just a silly manager trying to be clever.

Why change a winning team unless you need to? Yes, we needed someone to play right back but why change the midfield so drastically? Yes, Henry scored the winner against Scunthorpe but it was a shit shot that took a massive deflection. Apart from that fluke he's done fuck all to justify being picked.

And we seem to go down this Trotter route every few weeks. When will Parky admit the guy is fucking useless?

No douby Parky will trot out the usual "some players needed a rest" bullshit, but if a professional athlete can't play two games in 3 days he wants fucking off anyway.

Fuck off Parkinson.

He obviously looked at the league table and thought: "They're shite so I can have a bit of a tinker with things to see what happens" probably see how they'd cope in his preferred formation, as alluded to by Lusty.

Well sadly....Trotter happened.

Again.

And Derek's not a full-back. He can just about cope at CB where you don't need lightening pace but he got exposed for one of their goals today.

The worrying bit is though that Iles tweeted earlier today that Parkinson thinks FB is his best position and sees his future in that role.

I'm obviously just an armchair-bound idiot and Parkinson is the professional football manager but that kind of judgement worries me about him.

Bradford fans warned us that he has one way of playing and he does it with the same 11 players wherever possible and there was never a Plan B and when one or two of his "favourites" were injured, it all went to shit very quickly.

Which is a bit worrying.

Natasha Whittam wrote:In my opinion it's just a silly manager trying to be clever.

Why change a winning team unless you need to? Yes, we needed someone to play right back but why change the midfield so drastically? Yes, Henry scored the winner against Scunthorpe but it was a shit shot that took a massive deflection. Apart from that fluke he's done fuck all to justify being picked.

And we seem to go down this Trotter route every few weeks. When will Parky admit the guy is fucking useless?

No douby Parky will trot out the usual "some players needed a rest" bullshit, but if a professional athlete can't play two games in 3 days he wants fucking off anyway.

Fuck off Parkinson.

One minute you're having a go at anyone criticising Parky. A week later, you're absolutely berating the guy.

So much for "we're third in the league..."

What a stupid man you really are.

Natasha Whittam wrote:In my opinion it's just a silly manager trying to be clever.

Why change a winning team unless you need to? Yes, we needed someone to play right back but why change the midfield so drastically? Yes, Henry scored the winner against Scunthorpe but it was a shit shot that took a massive deflection. Apart from that fluke he's done fuck all to justify being picked.

And we seem to go down this Trotter route every few weeks. When will Parky admit the guy is fucking useless?

No douby Parky will trot out the usual "some players needed a rest" bullshit, but if a professional athlete can't play two games in 3 days he wants fucking off anyway.

Fuck off Parkinson.

I agree about the midfield. Prats will be back at some stage so Parky could rest them then. I suppose you have to show faith in peripheral players but not at the same time. He could have just rested Clough one week and somebody else the next but this stinks of overconfidence against a team in the relegation zone.

doffcocker wrote:

One minute you're having a go at anyone criticising Parky. A week later, you're absolutely berating the guy.

So much for "we're third in the league..."

What a stupid man you really are.

So you'd have picked Trotter and Henry? Of course you would.

I was having a pop at his tactics/selection for this game, not in general.

I wasn't at the game today. I was considering it but travelling three miles a fortnight seems more than enough given the quality of football on show at the minute.

We are capable of playing good football with players like Clough and Ameobi fit, but we just seem to want to score an early goal then sit back and defend.

I know we're in a good position considering everything that's been going on at the club, but there are some really really terrible sides in this division that we should be hammering, but instead choose to make tedious work of.

We're still second but Dale and Fleetwood have closed the gap. Could have been worse though and I'm grateful for Clayton's equaliser.
Conceding two against a struggling side isn't great for a supposedly excellent defence but that possibly reflects on how much Parky depends on midfielders to shield the back 4 - which is why we struggle up front as they can't be everywhere.

doffcocker wrote:I wasn't at the game today. I was considering it but travelling three miles a fortnight seems more than enough given the quality of football on show at the minute.

The football has been excellent at home. Clearly you never made it out of Asda.

Cheers to Sluffy, Wanderlust and Bread for filling in the blanks during the match. 

You're welcome mate,

See the goals here - Claytons was a very cool finish considering the circumstances.

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Our marking was poor for both their goals which is a worry.

We conceded a sloppy goal against Scunthorpe too, but overall the defence has been excellent all season so far.
This is a poor league, defences are there for the taking and we have failed to take apart as many as we should.
Here's hoping Clayton gets a run in the team (for Marine), stays fit and carry on scoring. He took his goal really well yesterday considering he's been out for so long.

Report: Coventry City 2-2 Bolton

IN BRIEF

Substitute Max Clayton secured a point for Bolton Wanderers after coming off the bench to net a last gasp equaliser at the Ricoh Arena.

Coventry had taken a first half lead through Marcus Tudgay before substitute Zach Clough earned parity from the spot.

Debutant Stuart Beavon then put the hosts back in front moments later before Clayton, returning after a long injury layoff, had the last laugh with his first goal of the campaign to earn a precious point for the visitors.

TEAM NEWS

Phil Parkinson made three changes from the side that saw off Scunthorpe United 48 hours earlier. 

Zach Clough dropped to the bench with James Henry, fresh from his last minute heroics in that victory, starting in his place. 

Liam Trotter also returned at the expense of Tom Thorpe, while Derik came in for the injured Lawrie Wilson at right back.

FIRST HALF                                                               

The hosts had the majority of possession during the opening stages and won an early corner which was eventually scrambled away by the Wanderers defence.

Wanderers’ first chance came from a free-kick when Madine was upended. Henry’s resulting right-footed effort from 20 yards though went high and wide without troubling Lee Burge.

Large swathes of the opening half were scrappy as both sides struggled to a grip on the game.

A moment of class from Derik almost gave the visitors the lead when his right-footed half volley following a lay off from Trotter sent Burge diving to his right.

Moments later, the Sky Blues had a gilt-edged chance to break the deadlock when Bevan lost his marker with a superb turn only to steer his shot wide.

The hosts didn’t have to wait long and captain Tudgay nodded into an unguarded goal after Derik and Alnwick didn’t pick up a cross to the far post.

It was a forgettable first-half as far as Wanderers and their 1,751 strong supporters were concerned.

SECOND HALF

Phil Parkinson opted not to make any changes during half-time and moments after the restart Trotter saw a volley go wide after pouncing onto a loose ball.

The Wanderers manager made a double substitution just before the hour mark with Zach Clough and Max Clayton coming on for Liam Trotter and James Henry.

The positive change had an immediate impact and Wanderers started to get more possession in the Coventry area.

Wanderers got back into the contest on 66 minutes when substitute Clough coolly slotted home from the spot after Madine was fouled in the box by Ryan Haynes who was shown a yellow card for the challenge.

But the parity didn’t last long and Stuart Beavon fired a curling effort past Alnwick just moments later.

Clough was Wanderers’ biggest threat and a good move culminated in his drilling the ball low and wide of Burge’s right hand post.

With ten minutes remaining, Parkinson through on Jamie Proctor in place of Derik with Wanderers playing three at the back. It was a bold but positive move by the Wanderers gaffer.

Coventry had the ball in the back of the net once again but this time the linesman had his flag up for an offside.

But for the second game on the trot late drama saved the day for Wanderers when Clayton drilled home in injury time to send the visiting fans into a frenzy.

Clough was instrumental in the build up with Taylor firing into the box for the young sub to blast home.

Wanderers should have won the game deep into injury but Madine flashed wide after brilliantly controlling in the box.

FULL TIME

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A positive to take from the last two games is that we seemed to have learned that a game of football lasts for a full 90 minutes plus injury time. Last few seasons it would have been us conceding the late goals and dropping points rather than scoring them and gaining extra points. In 3 days we've gained an extra 3 points at the death and stuff like that can prove decisive at the end of the season.