Sideways Sammy

Coventry City eventually ran out comfortable winners at the Riverside Stadium, against a Middlesbrough side who went down to ten men early in the first-half.

The Sky Blues had been the better side prior to Hayden Hackney’s sending off for two yellow cards, with the ball twice in the net for offside as they harried the home side onto the back-foot. If anything, the red card seemed to benefit Middlesbrough more than it did Coventry, allowing them to build some momentum to force the away side back into their own half.

A thumping Bobby Thomas header from a Josh Eccles cross just before half-time allowed Coventry City to settle into their sudden role as favourites to win the game. The second-half threatened to be a nervy affair, before Haji Wright turned in a delightful Tatsuhiro Sakamoto delivery to end the game as a contest.

Wright then sent Josh Eccles through to add gloss to the final result, with Norman Bassette and Ephron Mason-Clark both having late efforts to make it a rout for Coventry City.

An Unexpected Advantage

Coventry City started this game positively, playing energetically to catch Middlesbrough cold, force errors and saw two efforts ruled out for offside – the first of which was a very tight call. While the two lunging challenges that saw Hayden Hackney sent off for Boro reflected the manner in which the Sky Blues had been able to unsettle the home side, being a man up wasn’t necessarily the advantage that Coventry had been looking for.

There was a period of 10-15 minutes where Middlesbrough managed to get on top, with Coventry City struggling to adjust their game-plan with the change in the nature of the match. The Sky Blues seemed uncertain whether to commit to pushing forward, knowing they had an extra man to hem Boro in, or to remain patient in waiting for opposition errors. Middlesbrough threatened to prey on that uncertainty, with a raucous crowd behind them buoyed by a sense of injustice at the sending off.

The midfield, in particular, didn’t seem sure of how much they needed to commit to playing on the front foot to press home the team’s man advantage, allowing Middlesbrough to make occasional dangerous runs off the back of them to threaten Coventry City’s back-line. Both Jack Rudoni and Bobby Thomas’ bookings came from threatening Boro breakaways, highlighting the Sky Blues’ awkwardness at having to dictate an away game they had been expecting to play on the back-foot. That the final possession stats were 50-50, with both teams having ten shots on goal further underlines that this wasn’t the dominant display the scoreline made it look to be.

Aided by the first two goals coming at good times to settle things down, Mark Robins did well to manage a potentially awkward situation. The manager seemed to get a message across to his players towards the end of the first-half to focus on keeping the ball, which killed Middlesbrough’s initial momentum after going down to ten, he then made key, positive changes in the second-half to prevent the team nervily dropping back to invite the home side to a late rally.

What could have been an awkward situation for Coventry City to deal with became comfortable in the end. The ability to react to in-game circumstances for both players and the manager can be crucial over the course of a long season. While it was a little uncomfortable at times, the Sky Blues showed that here and took another step forward as they look to move up through the gears.

Set-Piece Work Is Paying Off

While it can be hard to tell from the stands what the coaching staff have been working on with the team, it is clear that Coventry City have been working on set-pieces recently. From Ellis Simms’ crucial goal to spark the comeback against Luton Town last time out to the period of play leading to Bobby Thomas’ opener here, the Sky Blues are starting to reap the rewards of work on the training ground.

Getting the opening goal before half-time in this game was crucial in helping settle Coventry City down and get them in a position to press home their advantage later on. Middlesbrough had dug in defensively with a man down and the Sky Blues were struggling to create quality chances with the mass of bodies between themselves and goal. At 0-0, Coventry looked far more dangerous from set-pieces than they did in open play.

It wasn’t just that Bobby Thomas scored a header that came from the second-phase of a set-piece but some of the intricate little rehearsed moves that the team had executed beforehand that highlighting how much work Coventry City are clearly putting into set-pieces currently. Had Haji Wright held his run by about one step, one of those routines would have led directly to an opening goal at 11 against 11, with a short free-kick routine catching Middlesbrough out.

It helps that the team has two great set-piece takers, in Jack Rudoni and Victor Torp, with last year’s designated taker, Josh Eccles, on hand in reserve. The delivery is a small part of it, however, it’s being able to mix up long and short deliveries and the organisation in how the team looks to attack the ball that really makes a difference. All of which is clearly something that Coventry City have been working on lately.

Having been a team that has rarely looked a threat from set-pieces in recent years, this is a positive development that may well drag Coventry City up the table. Goals change games and being able to squeeze out goals from dead-ball situations can make it easier to threaten in open-play, buying that freedom to not have to constantly be perfect to create chances.

The Benefit Of A Bigger Squad

Coventry City might have been 1-0 and a man up heading into the second-half, but Middlesbrough were well in the game. As the half wore on in that state, a home equaliser started to feel more and more likely, as the Sky Blues became nervy and threatened to retreat into their shell. Crucially, Mark Robins, made positive changes in introducing Tatushiro Sakamoto and Ephron Mason-Clark to step up the team’s threat, with the former setting up the crucial second goal and the latter having a couple of good chances to score.

Being able to make those kind of positive changes is not something the manager has had the benefit of for much of his time at the club. While Mark Robins has struggled for much of the season to make sense of having quality to introduce from the bench, the signs in recent weeks would suggest that maybe he is starting to figure it out. It’s not just the substitutions that the manager is now able to make but being able to mix and match formations both within and between games.

The second-half performance here spoke to just how tactically flexible this set of players looks to be. Having played a 3-5-2 for much of the game, the introduction of Tatsuhiro Sakamoto made it more of a 3-4-1-2 and then things became more flexible once Ephron Mason-Clark was introduced to, nominally, play left wing-back. With Luis Binks stepping into wide positions and carry the ball forward from left centre-back, he playing more as a left-back, allowing Mason-Clark to get up the pitch and the team to overcome their jitters and play on the front foot.

The crucial second goal comes from Tatsuhiro Sakamoto floating into a wide position from his central role to create an overload on the left side with Ephron Mason-Clark and space for the former to put in a peach of a cross for Haji Wright to tap in at the back post. In that period until the later introductions of Jay Dasilva and Norman Bassette, Coventry City were playing something between a 3-4-1-2, 4-4-2 or something else entirely that couldn’t be translated into an orthodox formation.

Moreover, the competition for places is creating a hunger for substitutes to impress, knowing that their time on the pitch will be dictated by the impact that they make. Ephron Mason-Clark and Norman Bassette, in particular, were desperate to grab themselves a goal here, which helped Coventry City keep their foot on the pedal right up until the final whistle.

Earlier in the season, it felt like players knew changes were going to happen regardless of performance levels. With Mark Robins starting to move towards what feels like a first-choice XI and avoiding changes for the sake of changes, everyone now knows that they have to make an impact. This is exactly what was hoped for heading into the season as Coventry City made signings to boost the depth of their squad.