Sky Blues Back On Their Road To Wembley

Having exited the FA Cup at the hands of Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, Coventry City entertain more realistic hopes of reaching a Wembley final when they face Preston North End on Thursday night in the Northern Area semi-final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

A repeat of the clubs £5 ticket offer from the quarter-final against Sheffield United should see another healthy crowd despite the game being chosen for live TV coverage.

The match-up is a repeat of the League One fixture which took place just days before Christmas at the Ricoh Arena, a game that gives both sides hope that they will prevail in this one.

‘dramatically’

City created a number of first-half chances but had to settle for a 1-0 lead at the break thanks to James Bailey’s goal but the complexion of the game changed dramatically after half-time and the visitors’ fought back strongly, especially when manager Graham Westley made a double substitution on 52 minutes.

‘The first half was a lot better because we tried to pass, but in the second half we allowed them to dictate,’ was Mark Robins’ verdict after the game while opposite number Westley commented: ‘We played on the front foot with intensity in our attacking and intensity in our defending.’

David McGoldrick, of course, will be missing from the Sky Blues line-up for that game but Carl Baker, a substitute after missing the win at Doncaster, will start and hopefully help his side dictate the pace of the game from the beginning.

PNE meanwhile have injury problems to deal with after losing John Mousinho to a hamstring strain against Millwall at the weekend.

“Losing Mous who was already covering for (Keith) Keane leaves us with more questions than answers,” said Westley. “It’s not as straightforward as just going out and getting someone, we are limited by our squad budget.”