The focus of the sporting world has been on East London for the past two weeks and now, with the nation taking a collective breath after the Olympic euphoria, the new season starts for Coventry City with a trip to the capital to face Dagenham & Redbridge in the newly-named Capital One Cup.
Away form in 2011/12 condemned the Sky Blues to relegation from the Championship and their travel sickness bug began in the same competition as Bury claimed the scalp of Andy Thorn`s men at Gigg Lane.
The focus at this stage last season was on the club`s owners and their unwillingness to back Thorn in the transfer market despite the loss of a host of his key players. This time around he has been allowed to wheel and deal and will know that early losses at Dagenham in the cup and Yeovil in the league will create pressure on the manager himself ahead of the first fixtures at the Ricoh Arena.
City at least go into the game with three consecutive wins on the road against League Two colleagues of the Daggers and, unlike this time last year, with a striker capable of putting the ball in the net on a regular basis, Cody McDonald`s doubles at Accrington and Bristol Rovers underlining his worth to the side.
The hosts performed reasonably well at home last season as they kept their heads above the relegation water Striker Brian Woodall netted 13 times in his first year as a professional and signed a new contract in the summer.
***Monday update***New signing Adam Barton is away on international duty so will not feature for the Sky Blues, who are in talks with trialist Steven Jennings over a contract while continuing to run the rule over Hungarian striker Peter Poloskei.
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