MATCH STATS COVENTRY: Fulop, Duffy, Page, Heath, Hall, Morrell, Jorgensen, Doyle, Scowcroft, Adebola, McSheffrey. Subs: Ince, Whing, Shaw, Hutchison (for Morrell, 70), Thornton (for Jorgensen, 90). NORWICH CITY: Green, Wright, Davenport, Doherty, Drury, Henderson, Robinson, Hughes, Huckerby, Thorne, Ashton. Subs: Gallacher, Fleming (for Wright, 45), Brennan (for Huckerby, 43), McVeigh (for Hughes, 49), Rossi Jarvis. SCORERS: Coventry: McSheffrey (3), Adebola (10). Norwich: Davenport (40), Fleming (84). TOP CANARY: EDP: Adam Drury EN: Carl Robinson PinkUn Poll: Paul McVeigh (37%) ATTENDANCE: 20,433 REFEREE: Rob Styles (Hampshire) ADDED TIME: First half: 2 mins Second half: 3 mins YELLOW CARDS: Coventry: Duffy (foul on Huckerby 33), Doyle (foul on Huckerby, 38), Scowcroft (failure to retreat at a goal-kick, 41), Hall (foul on Henderson, 54). Norwich: Hughes (push on Duffy, 33), Fleming (foul on Heath, 58), Robinson (foul on Thornton, 90). RED CARDS: None SHOTS ON TARGET: Coventry 3, Norwich 5 SHOTS OFF TARGET: Coventry 4, Norwich 10 CORNERS: Coventry 5, Norwich 5 FOULS:  Coventry 17, Norwich 16 OFFSIDES:  Coventry 3, Norwich 1

Saturday November 26, 2005

RICK WAGHORN

Long-serving Canary club skipper Craig Fleming rode to the Canaries’ rescue at the Ricoh Stadium as City wrested a richly deserved point from this absorbing contest.

Once more they were the victims of a nightmare start as Gary McSheffrey’s deflected opener with less than three minutes gone was followed seven minutes later by a second from Dele Adebola.

At that point the fans’ patience with Nigel Worthington’s administration probably hung by a thread as the visitors looked set for their fifth straight away defeat on the back of another Molineux and Loftus Road style no show.

However, City rolled their sleeves up in hugely heartening fashion and slowly took the battle back to their hosts with Calum Davenport’s 40th minute first being eventually followed by Fleming’s all important second.

In between time Darren Huckerby, David Wright and Andy Hughes had all disappeared injured and once Paul McVeigh’s headed ‘goal’ was ruled out despite Norwich’s vehement claims that the ball had crossed the line so City appeared to be heading for yet another luckless trip on the road.

Instead Fleming, on the eve of his Testimonial season provided the leveller that players and supporters alike were both crying out for and while it wasn’t three points, the result — above all the performance — suggested there was still plenty of heart in this City side.

As the Canaries yet again looked to fire their troubled season into life away at Coventry City, so once again it was all change as far as Norwich’s ever troubled midfield was concerned.

For once the team sheets arrived so it was quickly clear that Norwich’s much troubled midfield was once again sporting a new look with both Youssef Safri and Dickson Etuhu missing from the starting line-up.

Etuhu, it emerged, was the victim of a lower back strain sustained in training and though he travelled to the Ricoh Arena he was still deemed unfit to start the game.

Norwich City players take part in the minute's applause in memory of George Best before kick-off.

Safri, you could only presume, has fallen foul once more of his on-going groin trouble with hard pressed Canary boss Worthington admitting on Thursday that even 45 minutes would be a bonus from his Moroccan playmaker. In the event he didn’t even get that.

All of which ensured that new loan signing Carl Robinson found himself thrust straight into Worthington’s first team thinking with skipper Andy Hughes restored to a central midfield role with youngster Ian Henderson recalled on the right.

For the home side, like the Canaries all too near the bottom of the table, manager Micky Adams opted to keep his own new loan signing Don Hutchison on the bench with strike duties falling to Dele Adebolo and Calum Davenport’s former Sky Blues Youth Team pal Gary McSheffrey.

Those two would play a huge part in what was about to follow as Coventry stormed into a 2-0 lead within the game’s opening 10 minutes.

The contest was barely three minutes old before McSheffrey opened the scoring. Adebola beat Doherty to a long, high ball and found McSheffrey running across the width of the City penalty area.

Forced wide the danger appeared to have been averted only for the Coventry striker to turn and fire a low shot goalward. In common with City’s fortunes of late the ball appeared to take a big, helpful looping deflection up off the covering Adam Drury and as was by now tradition that merely ensured that the ball sailed sweetly over Robert Green’s head and inside the right-hand upright.

The Canaries had, in fairness, started the game purposefully enough and were putting together some bright and breezy passing moves.

It all countered for very little, however, when Coventry doubled their advantage in the 10th minute.

Doherty once again came out second best to Adebola in a header allowing the strapping Coventry front man the chance to run at Davenport.

And once he’d brushed his half-hearted challenge aside so Adebola calmly stroked the ball beneath the advancing Green for Coventry’s second goal.

Darren Huckerby struggles to pick himself up off the turf after yet another crunching tackle on an afternoon which saw him very much as a marked man.

Given that this latest away day horror show was all being enacted in front of a disbelieving Canary away support so their fury knew no bounds with the game threatening to be over within 10 minutes.

The irony was, in typical Norwich fashion, that for the next 20 minutes it was the visitors playing by far the brighter, more inventive football — all very easy when the opposition have virtually already got the points in the bag.

Peter Thorne had City’s best opportunity to pull a goal back when Doherty met a well-flighted Robinson free-kick in the 19th minute with a far post header that Thorne could only flick over from some five-yards out.

Three minutes later and Henderson swept an inviting cross into the danger zone where it was met by Ashton whose first-time shot flew narrowly over.

Certainly the game appeared to have more goals in it. Alas for the Canaries that was undoubtedly true at either end given the shaky start that both Doherty and Davenport had made to this afternoon’s game.

Robinson’s efforts at least offered one bright spot as he used the ball brightly and to good effect.

The game certainly livened up in the 34th minute when Richard Duffy slid straight through Huckerby with his studs showing and duly earnt the game’s first booking.

In the ensuing fury that followed City skipper Hughes also found himself seeing yellow as tempers started to fray.

A second booking followed in the 39th minute but once again it was Huckerby on the receiving end as Michael Doyle smashed into the City winger still limping from his earlier get-together with Duffy.

With Norwich continuing to enjoy the better share of the possession the big question was whether they could haul themselves back into the contest before the break.

Calum Davenport climbs above Dele Adebola to halve Coventry’s lead five minutes from half-time on Saturday.

The answer came in the 40th minute when Davenport made amends for his earlier failings with his first goal for the club.

Much credit needs to go to Doherty who shielded the ball wonderfully on the far edge of the Coventry box before laying the ball back to the waiting Drury.

His deep cross proved tailor-made for Davenport on the far post as he sent a looping header back over Marton Fulop’s head and inside his right-hand upright.

The goal was greeted with complete joy by the travelling City faithful and was, in fairness, due reward for their efforts — bar the first 10 minutes.

By now it was Coventry’s turn to be rattled as ex-Town star James Scowcroft joined Duffy and Doyle in the book for failing to retreat at a free-kick at a goal-kick.

The one disappointing note other than, of course, those two early goals was the sight of Huckerby gingerly heading off after Duffy’s hefty challenge took its toll with Jim Brennan replacing Huckerby in the 43rd minute.

Half-time: Coventry City 2, Norwich City 1

City boss Worthington made his second change of the afternoon at the break with club skipper Craig Fleming replacing on-loan right-back David Wright.

One could only presume that the switch was injury based as the on-loan Latics star appeared to have done little wrong in the opening 45 minutes.

With the Canaries all too well aware that the next 45 minutes was likely to be one of the more crucial halves of the season, so they needed to survive a real scare in the 48th minute when Robert Page met an inadvertent Ashton flick-on from a Coventry corner only for his header to fly a yard over.

Four minutes after the restart and Worthington was obliged to make his third and final change of the afternoon as skipper Hughes departed for McVeigh. Once again you could only presume that the change was injury related as opposed to tactical with Hughes given five minutes after the break to see how an injury held up.

Whatever the cause, the Canary skipper looked far from amused as he departed — a reaction based on his own frustration at once more falling victim to another niggling injury perhaps?

Whatever the case it left Norwich’s central midfield now resting in the hands of Brennan and new-boy Robinson as McVeigh took up position on the left-wing. Given that we were now coming perilously close to the midfield of Moulineux fame Norwich’s hopes of clawing their way back any further into today’s game looked to be suffering.

The yellow cards continue to rattle up on either side with Marcus Hall the next in the book in the 54th minute as he swept through Henderson’s legs.

The Canary youngster went down in a heap raising the real possibility of City being forced to play with 10 men — all three substitutes having long been used.

Chance-wise it was Norwich who created the next opportunity when McVeigh found space on the left and his teasing cross eventually found Thorne heading over as the ball reared high above him.

Fleming was the next to attract referee Rob Styles’ attention as he clattered into Matt Heath though even bigger controversy was to follow in the 60th minute when McVeigh, the whole Norwich team and the 3000 travelling fans gathered behind Fulop’s goal insisted they had grabbed a leveller as the City winger rose to meet Henderson’s cross with the ball apparently squirming away from the Coventry keeper and over the line.

Alas neither referee nor his assistant were having any of it despite Norwich’s furious protests.

With Coventry boss Micky Adams clearly intent on securing what he had got, with 20 minutes of the game remaining Adams threw new-boy Hutchison into the fray and reverted to a 4-5-1 formation.

The Canaries continued to press forward and indeed managed to force a 25-yard free-kick which was deflected high and over for a corner.

At the other end Hutchison almost made an immediate impact as he turned Doherty one way and then the other only for Adebola to glance his eventual header little more than a foot wide of Green’s left-hand post.

It was certainly proving to be a fast and frantic contest with the Canaries still appearing more than willing, it was just the clear-cut chances — let alone those nightmare first 10 minutes which were proving the biggest stumbling block to a Norwich revival.

With the minutes starting to tick away against the Canaries, Norwich were still firmly encamped in the Coventry half and on 82 minutes produced a half-chance for Henderson as Drury’s inviting cross swung into the box and the England Under 20 striker’s header flew just over the bar.

Craig Fleming’s face says it all after he scored the goal which completed City’s gutsy comeback from two-down.

The Canaries did not, however, have to wait too much longer for that prize leveller when club skipper Fleming bundled the ball home.

Once again it was Drury making a big difference on the left as he swung the ball high into the Coventry box where Fulop met the ball with a horrible, mistimed punch which fell to no-one in particular in the middle of the Coventry box.

Fleming, however, reacted first with a half-hit stab that took an eternity to cross the line with at least one Coventry defender looking clear favourite to clear the ball before it finally rolled in.

The celebrations that followed in front of the travelling yellow and green army proved just what it meant to all concerned. The question now was whether City could hold on in the game’s dying moments.

Robinson almost found himself with a chance to grab the winner after Green’s quick punt forward found him the furthest up field only for the strength in his legs to desert him when it really mattered.

Result: Coventry City 2, Norwich City 2