Super Sky Blues stun Birmingham

An entertaining League Cup tie at the Ricoh Arena on Tuesday night saw Coventry City defeat a strong Birmingham City side from a higher division after extra time.

Having made two changes from the side that drew with Bury in Andy Thorn`s last game with Jordan Willis and William Edjenguele replacing Richard Wood and Kevin Malaga, caretaker manager Richard Shaw saw his side struggle to stop themselves from being cut adrift in the opening 20 minutes of the match.

Peter Lovenkrands was allowed the freedom of the Ricoh Arena to nod Blues in front before Chris Burke smashed a shot against the crossbar. From nowhere however the Sky Blues not only came back into the game but went in front with two goals in three minutes.

Captain Kevin Kilbane slid a pass into Cody McDonald for the first (how Andy Thorn could have done with McDonald putting away a similar chance on Saturday) before Kilbane himself then smashed home a loose ball on the edge of the box.

City matched their Championship opponents for the rest of the half, Carl Baker coming close after wriggling free down the right-hand side, but were undone by an excellent move involving Jonathan Spector, Darren Ambrose and a classy dummy from Marlon King as Spector fired home to make 2-2 at the break.

Both sides threatened intermittently after half-time, Baker showing more directness and purpose as he caused the most problems for Blues while teenage sensation Nathan Redmond lived up to his big reputation after coming on as a substitute for the visitors and causing a couple of scares in the home defence.

‘powered’

It was the Sky Blues however who edged ahead in extra time as Baker got his reward when finishing calmly after a mix-up in the Birmingham defence. Gomis then powered a shot just Joe Murphy’s crossbar but it remained 3-2 at half-time.

In the final 15 minutes substitute Callum Ball should have made the game safe but there were few scares at the other end as City earned a win that could have huge benefits both financially and on their confidence.

Edjenguele was impressive against the crafty King and Stephen Elliott was tireless up front but every single player did their jobs to maximum effect in a performance which sets the bar high for City and surely makes Shaw the clear favourite to succeed Andy Thorn on a permanent basis.