Just like them Blues days of old, eh?
The underdog digging in for all their worth, resilience abound, sacrificing possession against a team that gets goals from everywhere and being compact; going to a back five to protect what they have.
Well, maybe some of those days of old. But I’m sure you get my drift.
With a depleted squad and on a seven-game winless run, the last thing Blues would have wanted was league leading neighbours Coventry City coming to town.
Throw in all the hysterical criticism and weird posts you see about the manager and his future, the players and everything else on socials in the run-up, there was a lot of doom-laden pressure ratcheted up.
But this was a means to an end victory, one hewn a different way to many we have seen at St. Andrew’s under the charge of Chris Davies.
Coventry have a real stature, strength and power about their team. They are best at set-plays in the division and flood the opposition box with numbers and find goals from all avenues.
Blues were selective when they pressed, more often getting into a uniform shape without the ball, knowing an expansive basketball game would suit the Sky Blues.
And there were no niceties at the back, trying to entice the opposition press and move round it and progress the ball upfield methodically mixed with elan. That was fine against other teams, but the calibre of Coventry and the pickle Blues were in, with not as many options personnel-wise as you would consider ideal, meant Davies opted for a practical approach.
James Beadle went long often (and took an age over everything, much like most visiting goalkeepers do to slow the game) and Blues looked to hit passes quickly and through in the first-half.
The two goals in the period came from incisive balls. Kai Wagner made an instant impact on his debut springing forward and lofting an invite to Marvin Ducksch, who finished with aplomb – his punched sidefoot volley was a lot harder to execute than it looked.
After Josh Eccles equalised 113 seconds later, Blues restored their lead thanks to a sumptuous pass by Patrick Roberts that found Lewis Koumas’ diagonal run behind the Coventry defence. Koumas kept his head to dribble to the side of Carl Rushworth and carefully stick the ball over the line for a tight angle.
Blues did ride their luck somewhat as Coventry carry a potent punch, but they hung in there and showed strength of character to compete and defend for all their worth.
And this is the odd thing, this season away from home Blues are often brittle; we saw at Watford goals conceded to catatonic defending and a general sullenness about their play.
At St. Andrew’s, and in this derby, they were brimming with mettle and refused to be subdued.
The reasons for such a disparity we’ve gone into previously on here and the Forever Blues podcast, which again can be delved into on another day.
For now, let’s concentrate on what worked during the noon showdown on Sunday and again give credit to a Blues performance on home turf.
Coventry pinned Blues back in the second-half and their second equaliser, in the 60th minutes, came from an Ellis Simms shot.
Aside from a familiar issue of not getting out to close the attacker quick enough, Beale again seemed late to react. He kind of fell down on the shot rather than moved his feet and should he had done better with Eccles’ attempt has swung past him on the bounce earlier?
Before we knew it, Blues wrestled the advantage once more. Ducksch made the run behind on the right of the area, Roberts slid him through and he drove the ball through Rushworth’s legs from a tight angle (it would be interesting to read the Brighton & Hove Albion representative’s scouting report from this match . . . ).
Shortly afterwards, Davies decided to sod style and bring a blue wall to Blues set-up.
They went to a back five and then, in the 72nd minute after a triple substitution, the backline was Alfons Sampsted left wing-back, Eiran Cashin left centre-half, Jack Robinson middle centre-half, Phil Neumann right centre-half and Tomoki Iwata right wing-back.
Jay Stansfield was moved to the left of a midfield four, Willum Willumsson to the right.
A gamble perhaps to protect what Blues had for so long. But Davies didn’t care. He backed his side to see the game out and apart from a late penalty scare when Iwata tugged at Ephron Mason-Clark’s shirt and both tumbled, Coventry couldn’t unhinge a resolute Blues.
Davies explained afterwards that he was mindful of what happened to Blues in the corresponding fixture, albeit his side went down to 10-men due to Jack Robinson’s sending-off.
“We needed to be a little bit better in possession, at times. We needed to try to engage and press a little bit more.
“But I thought the players were managing the game quite well, actually. I was just about to make a change and tweak to the structure and then they scored. So I left it, and then we scored, and managed to change it.
“They stretch you. They’ve got width. I remember the game we had against them down there and – we were 10 men – but they stretched us so much and I had that in my mind, ever since that game.
“I thought if we go up (in the lead) then the five could close those spaces quite well and it managed to work.”
To make matters worse for Coventry, Bobby Thomas was red-carded in added-time for swinging an arm towards Neumann. It hardly brushed him, but Neumann went down and off went Thomas. A bit of the old housery and street savvy that Blues employed didn’t go amiss on this occasion.
The manner of the victory is not the way Davies or the club want to play, or be known for. Remarkably, they only had 25 per cent possession and completed 88 of their 176 passes successfully – Coventry tallied 430 of 518.
But it was needs must here and eased a lot of the pressure and tension that was hovering over him and Blues. You could sense by his demeanour in post-match interviews that this was a real release valve of a result after such a testing festive period.
It also showed that the manager is (and always has been, in fairness) adaptable and a team that can mix it up becomes a more rounded and a less predictable outfit.
I said it pre-Christmas that Blues remain a work in progress and, whether we like it or not, this is where we’re at now.
Coventry spent a couple of seasons building and growing in the Championship (16th, then 12th) to become contenders in these past three campaigns (inclusive). And as Blues evidenced, nothing is straightforward in this league.
