Focusing on the football
IT could be compared to worrying about whether or not you left the stove on whilst your house is smashed to bits by a tornado, but these next three hundred words will nevertheless be based on Coventry City's goalless draw with Watford on Saturday.
What was a relatively unexciting game pales totally into insignificance in the face of the boardroom struggle currently taking place at The Ricoh, a struggle that could perhaps reach a climax this very week.
This is no excuse, however, to neglect the happenings on the pitch.
Despite goals again being notable by their absence, there is still a lot to mull over on the back of Saturday's game.
For me, Sammy Clingan stood head and shoulders above the rest in terms of both quality and input, staying composed and aware whilst others in the team occasionally appeared uncomfortable on the ball.
He was always able to pick to correct pass with consummate ease, and proved -as he does in almost every match- that he is clearly the best player on our books. Had we lost him this summer I can't help but feel that relegation would've been a certainty.
He's even gifted enough to simply look cool whilst playing, exhibiting intense swagger whilst commanding the midfield.
Sammy, please don't go.
Roy O'Donovan demonstrated perfectly how he earned the nickname of "The Forgotten Man" last season, failing to impact on the game in any way and doing very little to put an end to our goal scoring woes.
For all his desire and fairly admirable defensive work, Chris Hussey appeared somewhat incapable of taking the ball past a man. Countless times we saw him carrying the ball down the wing, only to give up the fight when confronted by an opposition defender.
One such incident, after which Hussey lay on the floor seemingly injured, prompted a nearby fan to exclaim:
"GET UP HUSSEY! YOU'RE SUFFERING FROM EMBARRASSMENT, NOT CRAMP!"
To be honest, he was probably right.
Cyrus Christie's performance was top notch. Despite his tender years he looked at ease for the duration of the 90 minutes, chipping in with a number of goal saving tackles and vital interceptions.
Gael Bigirimana again showed great promise, and it was probably the combined efforts of himself and Christie that were the biggest positives taken from the game.
All in all, the performance was far from disheartening. However, I can't help but feel that when we look back at the fixture list at the end of the season, regardless of where we've ended up in the league, we may view this game as one we perhaps should have won.
Latest Football League video
