Team News:
Shaquile Coulthirst is a doubt for the fixture after a tight hamstring picked up away at Wycombe last Saturday.
John Akinde (hamstring), Jamie Stephens (knee) and Curtis Weston (knee) are still on the road to recovering from their injuries.
Long-term injuries to Dave Tarpey (knee), Elliott Johnson (knee) and Richard Brindley (foot) mean they all remain on the sidelines.
Last Time We Met:
This is our first ever competitive meeting with Coventry City in our 129-year history, making the appearance of the Sky Sports cameras more special.
Manager: Mark Robins
After a playing career in which he scored over 100 goals in nearly 400 appearances in the Football League, Robins’ first steps into management came with former side Rotherham United in 2007.
He initially took over as caretaker manager and led the Millers to three wins from six games, moving the club off the bottom of the League One table, and was subsequently made the permanent manager shortly after.
A late dip in his first season denied the club an unlikely promotion, and in his second year in charge, the club were hit with a 17-point deduction before he moved on to fellow Yorkshire side Barnsley in 2009.
Taking over with the club at the bottom of the table, Robins guided them nine points clear of the drop zone and on a run of eight games unbeaten, finishing in 18th place.
The 47-year old joined the Sky Blues in 2012 and soon became a fan-favourite, catapulting them up the league from relegation candidates to playoff contenders. He led the club to the Area Final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy and had the highest win percentage of any manager in the club’s history with 52.5% at the time of his departure.
Robins left for Huddersfield Town in February 2013, guiding the club to safety on the final day of the season after a 2-2 draw against former side Barnsley. A two-year spell at Scunthorpe United followed, before a return to the Sky Blues.
Connections:
Coventry goalkeeper Liam O’Brien joined The Sky Blues in July 2017 from Portsmouth. Barnet signed O’Brien, also from Portsmouth, in 2011, making 21 league appearances in two years at the club. He’s gone on to make six appearances in all competitions so far this season, keeping two clean sheets.
Dangerman:
Starting his career at Dagenham and Redbridge in 2009, Jodi Jones stayed at the club until 2016. Joining Coventry on an emergency loan deal in March 2016, the deal was made permanent at the end of the season.
After 40 appearances at The Daggers, the 19-year-old has certainly found his place at the Ricoh Arena. With this being his second full season at the club, he’s already made 64 appearances for The Sky Blues, picking up six goals and 13 assists across all competitions.
Despite his young age, he’s already established himself as one of the top talents in the league. With a reported rejected offer from League One side Oxford United in the summer, it’s highly doubtful that we won’t be seeing Jones playing at a higher level in the future.
Last Time Out:
In their last league fixture, Coventry City beat Crewe Alexandria 1-0 at the Ricoh Arena.
The only goal of the game came early on, Jodi Jones getting very lucky after a ball looked like it was going out for a goal kick, just to be stopped by the corner flag. Jones picked up the ball and played in Duckens Nazon in the 9th minute.
The closest Crewe came to an equaliser was during the second half, Brad Walker clipping the top of the crossbar from a well thought out free-kick.
Crewe had Dave Richards to thank for keeping the deficit at one, a double-save first from Rod McDonald’s log ranged effort, the second palming away Nazon’s rebounded effort.
After wins in their previous two fixtures against Swindon and Exeter, this took The Sky Blues to three wins and nine points in a week, leaving them three points off the summit.
Coventry City: Burge; Grimmer, Willis, McDonald, Stokes, Kelly, Doyle (C), Jones, Nazon, Dev. Kelly-Evans, Biamou (Beavon 72′).
Unused Subs: O’Brien, McNulty, Davies, Di. Kelly-Evans, Shipley, Stevenson.
On the day:
Our U18’s take on Dagenham & Redbridge in a 10am kick off up on the Showcase Pitch. All bars will be open and serving alcohol from 10:30am following our success licence extension.
Ticket info:
Supporters can find out more about tickets details here.
Keep up with the game:
Full match commentary from every game is available on iFollow. However, as this match is being broadcast live on Sky Sports, there will be no iFollow video stream for Overseas Subscribers.
You can also get live match updates on Twitter throughout the afternoon. We are also on Facebook and will go behind the scenes on our Instagram.
