Coventry City won in largely comfortable fashion at Huddersfield Town to keep up pressure on the top six as the campaign begins to enter the business end.
A save from Brad Collins early on, with Huddersfield’s Josh Koroma clean through after a Milan van Ewijk slip, proved a crucial moment, with the Sky Blues very quickly taking the ball up the other end and going ahead after Ellis Simms carved out space in a tight penalty area to curl past Lee Nicholls in the opposing goal. It was two soon after, following an excellent run from Kasey Palmer, who then set Milan van Ewijk racing up the pitch to tee up Simms for his second goal of the afternoon.
Coventry City were clearly content with their two goal lead, comfortable in holding Huddersfield Town at arm’s length and occasionally threatening a third on the break. However, a poor pass from the back by Brad Collins allowed Rhys Healey to set up a potentially frantic final period of the contest. After a flurry of Huddersfield pressure, the Sky Blues regained their composure, before Haji Wright wrapped up the points with a low finish in second-half stoppage time.
Simms In Deadly Form
Almost all of the sting was taken out of this game thanks to two excellent finishes from Ellis Simms in the first-half. The centre-forward now has 12 goals in his last nine games, having scored four times in his previous 31 for the club. The two that he scored here were the goals of a supremely confident finisher.
There was more than a hint of Viktor Gyokeres in Ellis Simms’ first goal, receiving the ball under relatively close attention in the penalty area, carving out space to sort his feet out, before curling in a beautiful effort past the goalkeeper. It was less the technique in Simms’ effort and more the quality of producing something out of nothing in what had been a relatively tight game up until that point that was most reminiscent of Gyokeres. It’s certainly the first time a comparison between the two has felt like praise of what Simms has done rather than what he hasn’t.
The second better epitomised what Ellis Simms has been so good at doing over the past month, getting into the right place at the right time to score a relatively simple finish. With Milan van Ewijk having been released on the right side by an excellent Kasey Palmer run, Simms found space in a central position close to goal, effectively making the decision for Van Ewijk to tee the striker up for the finish. When the ball fell at Simms’ feet, there was little doubt that he would find the back of the net, which hadn’t been the case until the past month.
The overall play from Ellis Simms was good, battling with the centre-backs, looking to link play with quick passes with his back to goal, occasionally dropping into wide areas in order to hand Haji Wright a breather, however, it was the match-winning contribution that his goals provided that made it another step forward for Simms. This is the portion of the season where games can get frantic as teams scent what is at stake, this is when having players who can win games truly matter, taking pressure off others to contribute. If Simms can keep this run up, he may have found form at the perfect time of the campaign.
A Familiar Formula
Coventry City were the better team in this game, but it would be hard to describe this as a truly dominant performance. The Sky Blues took the lead with pretty much their first meaningful attack, with a second following shortly after to effectively wrap up the points. It was an efficient, clinical performance, that relied on the team having the better attacking players to win the game. It feels a familiar formula to the Gustavo Hamer + Viktor Gyokeres + nine other guys approach that so nearly delivered Premier League football last season.
With the two teams pretty much level for both possession and efforts on goal, it may have looked like this was a tight game that could have gone either way, but that wasn’t the case. After Ellis Simms’ moment of quality for the first goal and a swift counter-attack for the second, Coventry City pretty much shut up shop here. While that was partially down to Huddersfield Town’s lack of attacking quality – in no small part down to centre-forward, Delano Burgzorg, constantly drifting offside to kill attacks – there were given little hope by the Sky Blues’ careful management of proceedings.
With a back-line that were largely on top in their own penalty area, a goalkeeper making some good saves when required to, an energetic midfield that were capable of playing around their opponents to limit the effectiveness of their pressing and pace up top, Coventry City looked the likelier team to score for the vast majority of the game. The only blot in the copy-book was a sloppy pass from Brad Collins that allowed Huddersfield Town to threaten a late equaliser, but after a five-to-ten minute flurry, the Sky Blues re-found their composure to keep the game away from their own goal and eventually set up Haji Wright to win it late on.
It felt as if Coventry City were looking to manage their efforts over the course of the 90 minutes here, knowing that there’s another important game in a few days. Given the hectic schedule over the final month of the season, being able to control matches while expending a minimum of energy is going to be key. That is only possible when there are players in the final third who can kill games off, as Ellis Simms and Haji Wright did here, Don’t expect free-flowing football for the remainder of the campaign, as last year showed, it doesn’t need to be in order to push for success.
Van Ewijk Proves Dangerous Further Forward
One of the biggest questions heading into this game was whether Milan van Ewijk could be as effective further forward against a team likelier to defend deeper than he was against a Wolverhampton Wanderers side that allowed him room to run into last time out. It wasn’t just the assist that the Dutchman provided here for Ellis Simms’ second goal, but the overall manner in which he provided a constant outlet out wide on the right wing that demonstrated here why he may be the team’s best option in the position for the remainder of the campaign.
The primary reason why Milan van Ewijk was able to be effective in an advanced role in this game was, quite simply, his pace. For much of the match, Van Ewijk was the team’s release valve when the midfield threatened to be crowded, as players could drop the ball in behind Huddersfield Town’s left channel and know that the Dutchman could race into the space and get the opposing defence on the turn.
The run Milan van Ewijk made for his assist in this game demonstrated just how dangerous he can be with open space to run into. Spotting the room that had been opened up by Kasey Palmer tangling past two Huddersfield Town defenders, Van Ewijk turned the break into a chance on goal with a direct run that left the opposing back-line scrambling. Importantly, Van Ewijk spotted the opportunity to set Ellis Simms up at the end of the move, which is going to be the vital part of him making a success of this positional switch.
As threatening as Milan van Ewijk’s pace can be in and of itself, there are going to be situations over the remainder of the campaign where teams don’t provide him space to take advantage. The test there is going to be how he operates in tight areas to give the team an attacking threat in this side, which is why this game, against a Huddersfield Town side that left Van Ewijk plenty of room to take advantage of, didn’t necessarily provide complete evidence of the Dutchman’s ability to be truly effective further forward.
Nonetheless, it wasn’t just Milan van Ewijk’s pace breaking into space that was valuable here but also his ability in the challenge, which allowed the team to win the ball high up the pitch, and how he recovered to keep Joel Latibeaudiere protected in a somewhat uncomfortable right-back role. Those defensive qualities are why Van Ewijk’s long-term role will always be at right-back, but if he can continue to do a job further forward for the remainder of the season, it allows Coventry City to stick with a back four, which has clearly been the team’s most effective shape this year.
Sideways Sammy 