march games for city

City won the toss and decided to bat - sorry the lunchtime kickoff reminds me too much of one day cricket at Old Trafford!
It took City just 15 minutes to open the scoring. Above you can see the ball crossing the line with no player in sight! It was too easy. Berkovic robbed Healy in midfield and his through ball found Darren Huckerby - who else - well clear. Huckerby easily beat veteran Tim Flowers from the edge of the area.

Just when we expected City to score again Coventry equalized. A shot from Lee Mills was deflected by Howey to send Weaver the wrong way - above. Apparently Lee Mills had been on loan to City a few seasons ago - none of us in the 'alternative Kippax directors box' could remember him. Such was the impact he made then!

Berkovic, who had been clattered by Chippo, has a word with Keegan while Jim Smith bellows at his players.
Danny Tiatto walks away unscathed after a challenge with a Coventry player ( Chippo I think) who is getting attention. A few minutes later Berkovic had to leave the field and was substituted by Jensen who was unlucky to be dropped in the first place.

Kevin Horlock exchanges views with Lee Hughes after a foul by a Coventry player had robbed Ali B of his boot.

City were beginning to get on top and Bernabia had taken over the role of main provider in Berkovic's absence.

It was no surprise when City took the lad. A shot from Danny Tiatto was deflected by a Coventry defender and Flowers was well beaten.

2-1 for City and more to come in the action packed first half.

A packed Coventry defence watches as another City attack nearly results in a goal..

City were playing better than in their previous home game when they thrashed Wednesday 4-0 . Mettomo had taken the place of the suspended Dunne and looked in just as good form as when he left for the Africa Cup. City now have an in depth squad.

Yet another great run by Shawn Wright-Phillips brought City their third goal. He ran at the Coventry defence and his final shot - slightly deflected - beat Tim Flowers.
He has now had a long run in the side and gets better and better. Now he has broken his scoring duck his shooting confidence has grown considerably and it would not surprise me if he reaches ten in the season.

In the second half the battering of the Coventry goal continued.

Here Flowers is saving from a fierce Pearce free-kick from the edge of the area.

Below , just two minutes later Flowers watches another shot from Wright - Phillips just misses the top corner.
Shortly afterwards the nippy City attacker scored his second with a delightful chip to make it 4-1

Yet another narrow escape for Coventry City.
With about 12 minutes to go City made an interesting substitution, bringing on their latest signing from China.
Sun Jihai has taken number 17 shirt (his previous one in China was 27 ) and he is 24 years old. He has been playing on the left side of defence. His height is 1.83 meters and he played for Dalian Shinde. Dalian is a seaport city in the North East of China. He has 57 caps for China making his debut in 1996 against S. Korea.

Sun Jihai is known as an attacking defender with good crossing ability so perhaps he has been bought as a replacement for Pearce next season

With only a minute or so to go Coventry got a consolation second goal when a cross from Lee Hughes found Lee Mills unmarked. His header was just touched by Weaver who could not get enough on it to prevent it going in. 4-2 and the Wolves lead had been once again cut back to five points.

With the next three games - all away to Birmingham, Bradford and Crewe over the next week or so by the time we play Palace at home in a fortnight we may well be back on top of Division One.
Crunch match is going to be the game away to Wolves on April 1st .

After three successive away victories under their belt City, who were now ahead of Wolves in the race for the first division championship, were below par for once. I suppose we have been spoilt at home with wonderful displays, but Palace defended in depth even when they were a goal down. I suspect Trevor Francis who had suffered heavily when visiting Maine Road as manager of Birmingham earlier in the season, did not want to suffer the same fate.

City put pressure on the Palace goal from early on with their goalkeeper Clarke having to deal with a corner from Benarbia - left.

As early as the 8th minutes Dunne nearly scored, when put clear by Goater after good work by Benarbia.- below

Soon after City scored. Yet another corner by Benarbia was played wide to Shawn Wright-Phillips who beat a defender before crossing a delightful ball for Horlock on the far post to head in. Sorry you can't see much of Horlock. The excitement of a nearby spectator rather ruined the view ! At least the ball is at the back of the net!

On the left Horlock celebrates with the crowd while nine Palace defenders are left to chase the game. Alas Palace hardly gave Carlo Nash a chance to earn his keep so busy were they kept defending in depth. Benarbia although man marked for most of the game was still able to work his magic and several chances went astray.

On the right is a miss from Darren Huckerby whose pace once again took him past defenders. What a shame he can't seem to improve his peripheral vision in order to find better placed colleagues.
However he did have a good case for a penalty when pulled back by a Palace defender. Below he is seen appealing after the incident.

As the rather boring game moved on we at least see a little more of our Chinese signing Sun Jihai who looks pretty fast but a little reckless in the tackling area - he got booked for one offence. Then with about twenty minutes to go Goater missed a good chance, firing over the bar (above right) and he was immediately substituted by another City new signing Jon Macken a 5 million pound buy from Preston. I did mention a few games ago that City should sign another striker. Obviously Kevin must check out the pages here! Macken fitted in quite well but alas City were not to score any more, but the three points now puts some distance between them and Wolves who lost at home. This was City's sixth successive win and the target of 100 league goals is not far away.

After the two away blips on the forward path to the Premiership it was back to winning ways against an outplayed Forest side.
In the first twenty minutes or so Forest had an equal amount of play without really threatening the City goal. The out-of -form Goater missed a sitter ( on the left ) after 15 minutes

'Crouching Dragon' Sun Jihai made his full debut in the absence of Danny Tiatto. He was played in the right wing back position with Wright-Phillips moving to midfield where I don't think he is so effective. Sun looked pretty good making some good runs and linking up effectively with other players. Looks an intelligent buy and no doubt there will be a branch of the City supporters opening in Dalian in China! While he looks good going forward I wonder how he will fare in the Premiership when his defensive duties will be more thoroughly tested.

Eventually City took control but we had to wait until 5 minutes before a great ball from Jensen found Huckerby who scored past ward - Huckerby's celebrating -left - in front of an adoring North stand.
Niclas Jensen, a most unassuming player hardly puts a foot wrong and his passing ability has made him into a first choice for the City side. Another Keegan signing gem.

Almost on half time a terrible error let City in again. A bad pass back by Prutton was seized upon by Darren Huckerby and he scored with ease - below

In the second half it was all City . Above are two near misses. On the left a free kick by Pearce just misses the top corner and on the right The Forest keeper makes a brilliant save from the luckless Goater.

City keeper Carlo Nash had little to do but he did make a couple of good saves. One a long range effort he saved quite nonchalantly - a bit like Frank Swift used to do and another - on the left - when he had to dive and catch quite brilliantly.

City continued to press and plenty of chances were missed and after Goater missed another sitter Keegan's patience was exhausted and he brought on Macken who promptly missed another. However the killer punch came nine minutes from time when a Jensen burst was rudely interrupted by a foul tackle and Ali Benarbia rushed to get the ball - above left - to take the penalty - a joke I think to prevent Huckerby from taking it! Pearce then came up and eventually let Huckerby score his hat-trick as he sent the Forest keeper the wrong way- above right. 3-0 and really an easy win. The crunch comes on Monday when City play Wolves away. If City win they will surely become champions of the First Division.