We’re visiting 9th placed Coventry United on Saturday for a game which has been moved across town from United’s usual home venue to the Sphinx Industrial Supplies Arena, the home of Coventry Sphinx FC. It is the last of three consecutive away league fixtures before we return to Bridge Road next Saturday, hopefully with our run of just one league defeat in the last two months still intact.
Our current run of form will be severely tested on Saturday against a side that has been on an upward trajectory for the past twelve months or so. United only missed out on the play-offs last season in the very last game of the regular season and have lost just 3 of their 14 league games since the start of the current campaign, all of which points towards this being another tough game for us to negotiate.
The game has been moved from the Butts Park Arena, which is owned by Coventry Rugby Club, due to the venue being double-booked this Saturday. United have experienced on-going issues with their home venue all season. As a result, they have played only five league fixtures at home compared to nine on the road. Their league position is therefore a little deceptive as they have played significantly fewer games in total than almost every other team in the league and five fewer than ourselves. Nevertheless, our fine run of results has opened up a 14-point gap between the two sides.
Along with Lutterworth Town and March Town United, our hosts on Saturday have the joint best defensive record in the division with just 14 goals conceded. They can also claim to have two players in the top ten goalscorers list this season in Ryan Harkin and Cameron Dunn, although neither can match Connor Barnes’ 16 for the season which has him in joint third position. But the player in the hottest form in front of goal at present is Jordan Foster, who’s goal at Godmanchester in midweek was his seventh in just nine starts for the Stutes. Fozzy has found the net in four of his last five outings, so along with Connor Barnes, our deadly duo will be looking to inflict some damage on Coventry’s excellent defensive record to date.
We have already played the same opponents once already this season, which was back on 9th August when Chris Nunn was still in the Manager’s chair. A goal in the 75th minute gave United a one-nil victory on the day, despite having their goalkeeper sent off earlier in the second half. So, if ever there was a defeat that we would want to make amends for, this is the one.
Our management team report no new injury concerns following the gruelling midweek encounter at Godmanchester Rovers, although Charlie Black will again miss out through injury along with long-term casualty Joe Greenslade-Cross.
Admission on Saturday is at the very reasonable rates of adults £7, concession £4 and under 16s £1. The postcode for Sphinx Drive is CV3 1WA and kick-off is at 3.00pm (ignore what you might see on Football Web Pages). Your away support at Nuneaton and at Godmanchester was simply fantastic. The same again on Saturday would be greatly appreciated by management and players alike. So, wrap up warm and get behind your team.
C’mon the Stutes!
