Our preview of the home clash against the Sky Blues...
Coventry City
Sky Bet League 1
Saturday 5th October 2013
The Lamex Stadium, Stevenage, SG2 8RH
Kick-off: 3pm
Weather forecast: 17 degrees, Cloudy with sunny spells.
Referee: Graham Scott
Boro go into this on the back of 3 losses and are eager to get some points on the board in-front of their home fans. Coventry are only a point behind Stevenage, but have managed to claw back a 10 point deficit which was docked by the Football League at the start of the season.
Last time we met:
League One top scorer David McGoldrick took his tally to 16 in 21 games as he completed Coventry’s fightback from a goal down to win at The Lamex on Boxing Day. Lucas Akins gave Boro the lead from the penalty spot after Felipe Morais was fouled by Carl Baker. It took the Sky Blues until 79 minutes to level when Richard Wood tapped in after a blocked John Fleck shot. Baker made amends for the penalty with a curling strike on 89 minutes, before McGoldrick chipped home a minute later.
Boro: Arnold, Gray, N’Gala, Roberts, Charles, Grant (Agyemang), Dunne, Akins, Morais (Freeman), Shroot (Tansey), Haber
Subs not used: Day, Hills, Comminges, Risser
Team news:
Darius Charles is still touch-and-go on whether he will be able to take part on Saturday, niggles have kept the striker from returning to football after originally getting injured against Everton. Lucas Akins is on the road to recovery and is getting closer to being fully-fit, although it’s unlikely he’ll return this weekend.
After missing their defeat to Brentford due to a hip injury, Billy Daniels will likely not feature on Saturday as he was expected to be out for up to a month with the knock. Skipper, Carl Baker is probably going to return to first team action, after missing the last game with a calf strain.
View from the dressing room:
Check out what Graham Westley and Darius Charles had to say in the build up to the game here:
To view the full interviews, sign in to your Boro Player account.
The Coventry City Scout Report
Recent form:
The Sky Blues faithful will be over-the-moon with their start to the season, having already totted up 14 points, making their total 4 including the 10 point deduction. Although having lost their last two games, Coventry are one of the most dangerous sides in the league going on early season form. In-front of goal the Sky Blues have been superb, scoring 22 goals in their first 9 games, second only to Leyton Orient. This comes as something of a double edged sword though, as they’ve also got one of the leakiest defences in the league having conceded 18 goals already.
Key Man:
Callum Wilson tops the Coventry scoring charts with nine goals already this season. He was a regular substitute for the Sky Blues over the second half of 2012/13, coming off the bench to score a stunning first goal for the club against Colchester, before being allowed by manager Steven Pressley to start three of the Sky Blues' final four games. However since scoring on the opening game of this season at Crawley the youngster hasn’t looked back, notching another eight in the league against Bristol City (2), Preston (2), Shrewsbury, Colchester (2) and Port Vale (1). The front-man has formed a deadly partnership with the experienced Leon Clarke, who’s got 5 goals himself.