Sideways Sammy

Coventry City produced a dominant performance in victory at home to Birmingham City, with Callum O’Hare formally announcing his return from injury with a decisive brace.

The Sky Blues were on the front foot for much of the first-half but threatened to undo their intent with sloppy moments in the build-up, allowing Birmingham to threaten on the break via the lively Jay Stansfield and Siriki Dembele. However, Callum O’Hare handed City the lead with a slapped finish after advancing into the penalty area following an exchange with Tatsuhiro Sakamoto.

Coventry City had chances to finish the game off throughout the second-half, with Haji Wright spurning a couple of excellent chances to get on the scoresheet. In the end, it was O’Hare that secured the victory when a Milan van Ewijk cross came his way and he danced past a scrambled Birmingham City defence to grab his second of the night.

O’Hare Levels City Up

Not that Coventry City haven’t had their moments this season but it has often felt like they have been missing an extra gear in the attacking third. It has often been a feature of this campaign to have played some pretty stuff right up until the edge of the opposing penalty area but then dither over the final ball. The Sky Blues finally found some decisiveness in that area of the pitch and a large reason for that was Callum O’Hare finally finding some sharpness after his return from injury.

Obviously, the two goals that O’Hare scored were crucial in turning a decent performance into a winning one. The first finish was good enough in taking an unbalancedsnapshot to catch John Ruddy in the Birmingham City goal cold, but the second saw O’Hare produce something he’s rarely showed during his time at the club, composure when shooting. It would have been easy for him to have snatched at the shot first time, having seen that work for his opening goal, instead, he takes the touch to set himself, wrong foot the opposing defence and wait for his moment to shoot. On a night where Haji Wright and Ellis Simms didn’t take their chances, O’Hare doing so was vital.

It was his play in linking the play between midfield and attack that was just as impressive. Since returning from injury, O’Hare’s passing and movement has looked sluggish, here, he was bright and zippy, upping the tempo around the Birmingham City penalty area in the first-half and then springing his fellow forwards on the counter in the second. Coventry City have often been missing a reference point in the final third for much of this campaigning, someone the other attacking players can bounce off and that is what O’Hare provided the team here. Whether it was in acting as another creator ahead of Ben Sheaf, getting on the end of Ellis Simms’ cushioned passes in attack or playing Sakamoto and Wright in wide areas, O’Hare made the players around him look better.

The challenge for Callum O’Hare now is, of course, to sustain this over multiple games. It is important to remember he is still relatively soon back from two serious injuries and that the priority has to be to keep him fit rather than drain every last drop out of him. Some inconsistency and rest games should be expected but this game provided a tantalising sign of what a difference an O’Hare back at his peak levels could make to this team. A new contract surely has to be one of the club’s top priorities right now.

A New Frantic, Attacking Style

With the aid of Callum O’Hare, Coventry City revelled in the front-footed attacking style they looked to play in this game. It was a risky approach against a Birmingham City side that had players like Siriki Dembele and Jay Stansfield who looked dangerous on the counter-attack but the home side were rewarded for their bold approach with a pretty comprehensive win where only their finishing put the game in any jeopardy.

The tempo of some of the combinations between Coventry City’s attacking players were especially thrilling. With Ben Sheaf taking the lead with a ballsy performance in front of their defence where he got stuck into challenges, received the ball under the attention of the Birmingham City press, and slalomed up the pitch, he epitomised what this Sky Blues side was trying to do. That link up between Sheaf and Callum O’Hare was crucial in turning possession into threat, but the combination of Milan van Ewijk and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto down the right side was encouraging with both equally capable of bombing forward as they were racing back to snuff out danger.

Coventry City had to take risks in order to force the issue against Birmingham City side that dropped into a compact defensive shape when the home side had long spells of possession. The Sky Blues were occasionally guilty of forcing it, with the midfield duo of Ben Sheaf and Jamie Allen advancing high up the pitch to aid the team’s attacking efforts and leaving space behind them for the Blues to counter into. Thanks to the efforts of that Sakamoto-Van Ewijk right side and a calm central defensive performance from Bobby Thomas and Liam Kitching, Coventry were able to prevent that threat turning into a direct threat on goal but against better teams, that will be punished.

As a fan, however, I am happy with Coventry City taking such risks to attempt to open the game up. In what could otherwise been a pretty stodgy contest between two teams struggling for cohesion, it was the Sky Blues who looked to force the issue. While it could have cost them on another day, it can only be good practice to learn how to take the game to teams. While this wasn’t exactly a perfect attacking display form Coventry, they played with the right intent and got their rewards.

Simms & Wright Next To Step Up?

This was just the third game that Haji Wright and Ellis Simms have started together for Coventry City and it was another frustrating pair of performances from two of the club’s most expensive ever signings. Haji Wright spurned a couple of good chances to get on the scoresheet while Ellis Simms made a decent fist of leading the line but put in several heavy touches and was barely a threat on goal.

Whereas for much of the season, Hank Wright and Ellis Simms’ lack of form has been the primary issue for Coventry City, with other players stepping up here it raises the promise of what this team might be if the duo start to turn moments into complete performances. Of the two, Wright is the closest to making the breakthrough as he continues to get in scoring positions and it is surely a matter of time before he starts converting. As for Simms, he has plenty of work to do to nail down a starting place.

Haji Wright may be playing in a somewhat unconventional role for a big striker out wide on the left, but with the creativity coming from elsewhere, that ability to attack the far post is proving dangerous. Wright should ultimately be the beneficiary of that budding link-up between Tatushiro Sakamoto and Milan van Ewijk on the right, with his headed chance in the second-half directly demonstrating what could be possible. Callum O’Hare’s through balls look to be another source of service for Wright, it’s now about converting on a more reliable basis.

As for Ellis Simms, the signs of what he may become are more vague. He had his moments in this game in providing physicality, pace and link-up in the centre-forward role but he was unable to string it together into a convincing display. For very challenge he won, there was a heavy touch. For every burst past a defender, the ball didn’t quite bounce his ways. It’s not through a lack of effort from Simms but his confidence is clearly low and he needs to find some consistency in selection and some luck from somewhere to get his Coventry City career going.

When there looks to be increasingly more to like about this Coventry City team, if their two key strikers can find some form that is what is going to turn this first half of the season gelling period into a rise up the table later on.