Sideways Sammy

Coventry City continued their excellent recent form with a 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.

In a scrappy affair, it was Ben Sheaf who stood up to decide the contest. It was he who produced an excellent curled strike form just outside the penalty area before half-time to put the Sky Blues ahead, it was Sheaf who then turned in a rebounded Matt Godden shot to score what would prove to be a crucial second goal.

In a tetchy atmosphere at Hillsborough, Sheffield Wednesday threatened to turn things around when they pulled a goal back after Josh Windass pounced on a loose ball in the box after Brad Collins had saved an Anthony Musaba header. However, the scrappy nature of the game ultimately prevented Wednesday building any pressure, allowing Coventry City to see out a stop-start contest that was short on quality from either side.

Ninety Minutes Of Scrappiness

Both teams are likely to reflect after the end of this game that they were unable to play in the manner that they wanted to. This was a contest littered by poor touches, heavy passes and a slew of needless fouls that prevented either side from getting into a rhythm. There were occasional moments of quality, but often as a prelude to play soon breaking up.

The quality of the pitch at Hillsborough didn’t help. The ball often seemed to hold up in the turf, breaking play up and stopping either team from controlling possession for extended spells. It was a game that was both end to end and lacking in chances of quality. It was the type of match that could either have been settled by a solitary goal or been a crazy festival of scoring, with the 2-1 scoreline reflecting neither how chaotic nor lacking in quality the ninety minutes were.

Coventry City tried to rise above the scrappy nature of the contest by playing out from the back, trying to lure an energetic Sheffield Wednesday team onto them in order to create space further up the pitch. It was a plan that worked at times, with the Sky Blues playing around Wednesday’s press quite well on a few occasions in the first-half, which is what led to the away side’s best spell of the match in the build-up to the opening goal. However, City could easily have found themselves behind via this strategy, when Josh Windass pounced on a glaring Liam Kitching mistake earlier in the opening 45 minutes and really should have scored.

Theoretically, the chaotic nature of the game should have suited a high-pressing Sheffield Wednesday side, but that Windass chance highlighted their inability execute when presented with moments of promise. While they salvaged a goal from two-down, they were constantly let down by poor touches or bad decisions to prevent them building any pressure on Coventry City. Chasing a game at home, they were ultimately more likely to concede than they were to equalise.

It is hard to say that either team executed the game-plan they were trying to. Whether it was because of the conditions or a lack of composure, both teams seemed to allow the match to happen to them rather than impose themselves on it. It could be said that Coventry City’s extra quality made the difference, but that could well be retrofitting the analysis to the final scoreline.

Kasey Palmer & Ben Sheaf Stand Out Above The Chaos

As hard a game as this is to analyse due to the lack of flow that it got into, if it could be said that there were difference makers on the pitch, it was Ben Sheaf and Kasey Palmer for Coventry City. Sheaf’s status as the stand-out player at Hillsborough was easy to identify as he scored both the Sky Blues’ goals. However, Palmer also deserves credit for the reliability of his technique that was a constant source of relief for an away side struggling to exert themselves on the game.

To reduce down Ben Sheaf’s performance in this game to just the two goals that he scored really would be reductive. It was the midfielder’s ability to receive the ball under pressure that helped navigate an awkward Sheffield Wednesday press early on. It was Sheaf’s ability to retain possession that led to Coventry City’s best spell in the build-up to his excellent opening goal. It was Sheaf’s ability to read play in the centre of the park that prevented Wednesday getting going when chasing the game later on and, on another day, could well have led to a killer third goal that the Sky Blues ultimately didn’t need.

It was a performance from Ben Sheaf reminiscent of Gustavo Hamer. That ability to influence the game on both sides of the ball, that ability to drive the team around him on when others are panicking, that desire to be the game’s protagonist. While Sheaf still has a way to go to being the kind of constant influence that Hamer was, this performance highlighted just how impactful and decisive he has become over the course of the season.

As for Kasey Palmer, his influence on proceedings was less noticeable as Ben Sheaf but no less valuable for Coventry City. Playing out wide and away from his preferred position in the centre, Palmer’s combination of technique and physical presence made him a reliable out-ball for the team that got them out of tight spots on numerous occasions. It was that ability to hit Palmer up on the left side that got the Sky Blues going in the first-half and helped see the game out in the second-half.

It is often in the scrappier matches that the players with the best technique stand-out and that is the difference that Ben Sheaf and Kasey Palmer made for Coventry City here. What is so encouraging about the past couple of months is that Sheaf and Palmer are two of a number of contributors who can make a difference, with Haji Wright, Callum O’Hare, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Milan van Ewijk all capable of stepping up.

Game Management Remains A Concern

It may not have been the best performance from Coventry City, but the match really should have been wrapped up at 2-0 up and it wasn’t quite. While Sheffield Wednesday didn’t manage to trouble Brad Collins in goal much after hauling a goal back with 22 minutes left, the manner in which the final result was left in some level of doubt heading into the final stages highlights where this team still has to learn.

The Sky Blues were guilty of getting sucked into Sheffield Wednesday’s obvious frustration with the referee. Both Ben Sheaf and Kasey Palmer were booked for dissent, while Josh Eccles was probably lucky to escape a caution of his own with his mouth constantly in the ear of match official, Anthony Backhouse. On top of that, they made a number of needless challenges to force the referee into decisions that were against Coventry City’s interest. There was a lack of maturity to an approach which contributed to a febrile atmosphere that wasn’t conducive to calmly seeing a result out.

The bigger issue was that the Sky Blues were a little too eager to get on the attack and that left gaps behind the forward players for Sheffield Wednesday to exploit when moves broke down. The period of play leading to Wednesday’s goal highlighted this, with Sakamoto tripping an opponent as he raced to track back, which left space for Barry Bannan to quickly play the resulting free-kick out wide, leading to a delivery that Coventry City didn’t fully deal with.

A key part of this run of form over the past couple of months has been in the quick, counter-attacking play that this team have looked so dangerous in executing. However, that has led to a number of relatively open games – with wins against Middlesbrough and Sunderland over the past months being pretty end-to-end contests. While Coventry City have a wide array of haymakers to utilise in these slugging contests, the concern is that it leaves the team open to smacks on the jaw that could cost them points unneccesarily.

This isn’t quite the same fragility as was seen earlier in the season when the Sky Blues dropped a number of points via conceding late goals but there is clear room for improvement in how this team manages winning positions. As was seen in the final minutes here in how the team found some calm to pass the ball around in the opposition half and hold play up near the corner flag, there is the ability to play in a calmer manner, this team just has to spot opportunities to do so.