Coventry City have beaten Port Vale 1-0 at the Ricoh Arena thanks to a first half curler from Jodi Jones.
Coventry City have beaten Port Vale 1-0 at the Ricoh Arena thanks to a first half curler from Jodi Jones.
Man of the Match, Jones took his tally to four for the season as City bounced back from recent defeats to earn a much needed win.
The victory however ended in controversial fashion when Rod McDonald was handed a straight red card for his challenge on David Worrall, but the Sky Blues managed to keep their lead right to the whistle.
The afternoon started slowly, but the Sky Blues were able to capitalise on their first real chance of the game. The breakthrough came after 25 minutes. Jones combined well with Michael Doyle down the right before being allowed the time to cut inside and curl a dream effort in off the far post. City had the lead.
Jack Grimmer has already found the net once this season from right-back and nearly doubled his season tally on the half hour mark. The former Fulham defender’s cross caught Rob Lainton off guard and almost sailed into the far top corner.
Mark Robins’ side started the second half with a little more bite. Lee Burge’s pin-point long ball found Stuart Beavon deep in the opposition half who set-up Liam Kelly with a chance to fire one from range but his effort sailed past the far post.
The early chance injected some life into City’s play. Next it was Beavon’s turn to test Lainton with Tony Andreu making the most of a loose ball on the edge of the area but the Vale ‘Keeper got down well to collect.
Doyle found himself at the heart of nearly everything the Sky Blues produced over the afternoon and it was his ball that gave Beavon a golden chance to make it two. The 33-year-old chased down his captain’s pass and flicked the ball over Lainton but the ball rolled agonisingly past the far post.
However, with ten minutes to go the game took a turn. Rod McDonald was deemed to have denied David Worrall a clear goal scoring opportunity and was given a straight red card, leaving City with ten men for the final stages and allowing Vale back into the game.
Burge, who had enjoyed a quiet afternoon, was called upon twice in the final moments through efforts from Tom Pope and Marcus Harness but the ‘keeper stood strong to keep his clean sheet.
Attendance: 6,951 (443)
Yellow: Middleton, Vincenti.
Red: McDonald.
Teams:
Coventry City XI: Burge (GK), Grimmer, Willis, McDonald, Stokes, Kelly, Doyle (C), Vincenti, Andreu (Nazon 67'), Jones, McNulty (Beavon 27' (Davies 80')).
Coventry City Subs: O'Brien (GK), Shipley, Dev. Kelly-Evans, Ponticelli.
Port Vale XI: Lainton (GK) (Hornby 60'), Davis, Kay (C), Harness, Pope, Worrall, Barnett, Smith, Whitfield, Gunning, Middleton (de Freitas 80').
Port Vale Subs: Wilson, Denton, Anderson, Turner, Pyke