Watford v Coventry City 14/09/24

Coventry City have come a long way since being relegated to the fourth tier on a pitch littered with pink plastic pigs. A joint effort with supporters of Charlton Athletic, the ‘flying pigs protest’ of 2017 was aimed at the respective owners of the two blighted clubs.

When Sisu, a Mayfair based hedge fund, bought the sky blues in 2007 it was said that “the club ticked all the boxes” According to club chairman Ray Ranson the moneymen were attracted by “a one team town with a finished stadium” and “a loyal fanbase”.

Legal wrangles over that stadium led to the team becoming a nomadic three town club, it’s supporters boycotting ‘home’ fixtures played in Northampton and Birmingham.

The most notable feature of Sisu’s reign was its toxicity. Even the Coventry Telegraph urged the owners to “sell up and leave”. In Jan 2023, they finally did.

Fresh from their first full season under the ownership of Doug King, one in which they made a cup semi final appearance, Coventry arrived at Vicarage Road with the hosts in an unlikely 3rd place in the table.

In golden autumnal sunshine the Hornets found themselves a goal down within four minutes, Ellis Simms glancing a header home for the visitors. Slow starts are becoming an unwelcome habit that Tom Cleverley’s Watford will be keen to shake off.

Cleverley conceded that Mark Robbin’s team selection had thrown the Watford manager a curveball, and for much of the first half his team were chasing shadows.

Coventry played with zip and verve, moving the ball around crisply and fashioning enough chances to have put clear daylight between themselves and their sluggish hosts.

Daniel Bachmann made a clutch of vital saves, but perhaps his most impactful contribution was to call for medical attention just as the sky blues were looking irresistible.

The Austrian’s apparent niggle stalled Coventry’s momentum. Watford were more assured thereafter.

Not that the madcap nature of the game abated any. Thirty five efforts on goal were racked up by the two sides, the Coventry manager likening it to a game of basketball.

The long limbed Francisco Sierralta was seemingly forever engaged in last ditch lunges, while Ryan Porteous played like a man possessed of a thousand yard stare. The scot appears capable of anything, except timing. His performance was perfectly illustrated by a bizarre flying headed tackle in the closing minutes, brave, and totally reckless.

Injury time arrived with half the pitch in shadow. The allotted thirteen minutes were mostly accounted for by the worrisome sight of Watford’s Georgian maestro leaving the scene on a stretcher.

Whenever Watford surged forward it was Giorgi Chakvetadze who had led the charge. Guilty of a glaring miss early on, he later provided the assist for Tom Dele-Bashiru’s equaliser.

An effort from Coventry’s Haji Wright hit a post late on, but on a frantic afternoon the spoils were ultimately shared. Watford remain unbeaten at home under Tom Cleverley. Next up, Norwich away.