Main Menu

4th November 2006

Town stop the rot

Jaguar Coventry 2 Coalville Town 2

DTZ East Midlands Premier Division

Coalville ended their rotten run of four defeats on the trot with an encouraging point at bogey-side Jaguar Coventry.

Both sides came into this DTZ East Midlands Premier Division match finding themselves, rather surprisingly,  in the relegation places and at times it did seem that both sides lacked a bit of confidence - Jaguar had come into the match on the back of three consecutive defeats too.

Both sides had openings early on, although it was the home side who went closest when a ball was played across the Town dee for a stretching forward to fire wide from eight yards.

Town were keeping the ball better than in previous weeks on awkward pitch, with James Woodard doing some excellent work in the centre of the park alongside Mike Browbank and Jim Lamb.

On the flanks Ollie Knight and Brian Robinson showed moments of trickery, but the most pleasing thing was the way Coalville left Jaguar chasing shadows at times.

But, when things broke down, Coalville did look vulnerable, and Paul Marston was forced into a decent save to keep a close range effort. The defence of Andy Newman, Gareth Gamble and Mick Clarke continued to show signs of improvement, though, keeping Jaguar's top scorer largely quiet.

Midway through the half, Jaguar took the lead from a penalty corner. The home side won a string of penalty corners, and eventually slipped the ball to the left for a player to fire home past Marston.

But Coalville hit back quickly, and levelled within five minutes. Woodard combined with Gareth Turner, the latest teenager to make his debut at this level, to set Browbank through on goal. Browbank lobbed the ball high over the keeper and it was dropping in when a defender hooked it high off the line, via the post, to concede a penalty stroke. Leading scorer, 17-year-old, Ryan Mason stepped and sent the keeper the wrong way to level the game up.

Adam Barnett soon went close for Town, while Browbank fired an effort wide. But shortly before the interval Town got in front with a slightly fortuitous goal. Mason picked the ball up on the edge of the dee and shifted it onto his reverse side before hitting a trademark effort through a crowd. But Mason didn't really get hold of it, only for the Coventry keeper to make a mess of saving the shot, the ball deflecting off his kicker and into the corner of the goal for his fifth league goal of the season.

The second half saw a similar story, with Town trying to play the ball around on an awkward pitch and Jaguar resorting more and more to long-ball, counter-attacking play. But Coalville have had a habit of shooting themselves in the foot, and just over 10 minutes into the second half Browbank lost possession inside his own half, leaving two forwards clean through on Gamble. They worked the ball past him and fired home an equaliser.

Barnett then forced the Jaguar keeper into a save and Turner saw an effort go wide for Town. But it was Jaguar who were knocking on the door late on, and Marston parried a fiercely hit effort away from a penalty corner, with Gamble on hand to scramble the rebound away.

The Town keeper was then in action again late on, cutting out a dangerous cross with his stick to help his team keep Coventry out. From the resulting counter Knight dribbled his way past a couple of defenders but was well tackled just as he was about to shoot.

So, Town had to settle for a draw that leaves both sides still in the bottom three. Coalville will hope to return to winning ways when pointless bottom of the table Leicester outfit Soar Valley visit King Edward VII College on Saturday.