Coventry v Town From The Front Room
Picture from HTAFC.com
Mark Harrison, Writer.
Twitter: @MarkHarrison15
A trip to Coventry is in the catchment area for this south westerner, but tonight, I have opted to watch the match through the lenses of the Sky cameras. Yes, this evening I am very much an armchair supporter.
I will do armchair things in a bid to support the team. With that in mind, here are a few things I always consider pre match when watching from home.
Firstly, am I wearing the correct garments? lucky pants, yep, lucky socks, yep and I opt for this year’s home shirt. It’s come up trumps in the last couple of games, so it’s on form. It’s a known fact that what you wear has a massive bearing on the result.
Secondly, who are the Sky studio guests? Do they present a “threat”, or will they fight Town’s corner? Will they abandon all objectivity and potentially what’s happening in front of their very eyes and see the games through a blue and white lens? I see, it’s Jobi McAnuff and Keith Andrews. I don’t think either will be cheer leaders, they’ll be too damn objective!
It was great having Michael Hefele in the studio when Sky launched its unofficial “Sky Sports Terriers” for the 2021-22 season. He was a one-eyed terrier and boy did he produce some results for us! Shame he couldn’t get us over the line in the Play-Off final.
Thirdly, who is the referee? This evening it’s Ollie Langford. Oh dear, he doesn’t look like he has the face of someone who is going to award us a penalty any time soon. Why not? Because he’s a referee. Spoiler alert, he doesn’t.
Fourthly, ensure that all logic is thrown out of the window and forget you are not at the game and have even less than the near zero impact you have even when watching in the stands.
It’s perfectly ok and rational to shout at the tele to inform the ref that he is wrong with decisions against Town and that an opposition player has cheated, or the commentator is biased against us. It is also necessary to move around the room in order to give the team a better chance if one chair or sofa is clearly underperforming, it’s not the team, it’s the chair you are sitting on that determines outcomes. It’s good practice to move closer and closer to the tele and stand up for long periods if you think it will improve Town’s chances.
Remember to go to the toilet prior to kick off or you will inevitably realise you should have done so within 5 minutes of the kick off and spend 40 minutes plus additional time (and there’s plenty of that nowadays) feeling uncomfortable. Or give up and go to the toilet and the opposition will score, because that is the law!
What of the game? Well, the first half was a bit underwhelming, with not much goal mouth action. I had to move seats to see if that would get Town out of their half never mind into the opposition box. But the team continued to sit back like me and although they defended well, Coventry deservedly took the lead. Ayari didn’t know much about it, but they all count. (ps I had not gone to the toilet, so it wasn’t my fault they scored) Did he use his hand to put the ball in the net? Not sure, but his goal celebration was as sheepish as they come!
Second half was so much better, and Town gave the home side something to think about. Good that the changes made in terms of tactics and personnel paid off for Darren Moore in his first game as boss. A game of two halves, certainly.
At one end Nicholls made a fantastic reaction save and a few minutes later, Helik rounded off an excellent move with a great finish with seconds to spare. A point was fair reward I think for the evening’s work. I had also switched seats, shouted at the tv a lot and didn’t visit the toilet, so I felt I did my part.
I was going to keep count of how many times the commentators and sky guests mentioned Neil Warnock or last year’s league one play-off games. But I gave up on that!
Although watching from home is very comfortable, nothing compares to being at the ground. So, roll on Saturday and my 9 hour round trip to the John Smith Stadium!
And finally……..Dear Keith Andrews, Town have been playing 3-5-2 this season
