Match winner Liam Walsh described scoring in the last minute as ‘amazing’ as his strike continued the Sky Blues winning start to life at St Andrews.
The on-loan Bristol City man struck in the third minute of added time after Jordy Hiwula had cancelled out an earlier Marcus Forss penalty. “It was a great feeling”, Liam said. “We’re over the moon to come away with three points; we felt with the way we played, we didn’t deserve to come away with three points.
“It makes it even sweeter to win it the way we did, with the last kick of the game, and to score it myself.”
The Sky Blues are yet to drop points at their temporary home; today’s result was their fifth straight win at St Andrews. Walsh, who has stepped in for captain Liam Kelly in recent weeks, challenged his new teammates to mirror this form away from home. “Our home form is really good, so as long as we can keep getting three points at home, we need to start performing away as well.”
“When teams come here we want them to fear us, as we’re number one in the league. The way we’ve been performing lately, we can do even better than that.”
City fell behind after an early mix up caused Walsh to concede a penalty. “Like the Blackpool game, we started a bit sloppy”, Walsh said. It was the second match in a row in which Coventry had conceded in the opening 10 minutes, but like against Blackpool, the Sky Blues grew into the match. “When we start playing, I don’t think many teams in the league can stop us. Especially once we scored the first goal, a lot of people came out of their shells and started playing with confidence. We showed a lot of character to come back and win.”
“We’re trying not to let things affect us in games, as it makes us play worse. I felt that it wasn’t a penalty, personally, but I just let it go and the feeling to get the winner was amazing.”
Both goals tonight were assisted by Walsh’s midfield colleague Jordan Shipley. Shipley, who recently signed a new two year deal, impressed with a neat ball which split the back two lines of the Wimbledon defence to allow Hiwula to score. Liam was full fo praise for his teammate.
“He played brilliantly. He’s a great working midfielder, he’s up and down all game and creates a lot of chances for us. The pass for Jordy (Hiwula) was outstanding.”
Shipley also grabbed an assist for Walsh’s winner, and the former Everton trainee explained that he didn’t believe he’d even scored!
“I saw Shippers coming forward - I don’t know why I got forward, because they left a lot of players up! I saw the space and I just went for it.
“I was lucky I scored; I kicked the floor when I hit it. I just hoped it was on target, and it was.”
The last minute goal was Liam Walsh’s first for the club, but his celebration can only get better. The 22-year-old admitted that one of his team mates tripped him over in the excitement.
“I wanted to run towards the fans, but one of the lads whipped my ankles up and I went flying on face first! There’s no better feeling than a last minute winner.”
Due to the Bury situation, the game planned for this Saturday has been cancelled. Walsh is confident this won’t effect the sides momentum for the next game against Doncaster Rovers. “As a team, being top and unbeaten, it’ll probably do us good and we’ll come back from the break ready to go.
“We’ll be back in training soon and ready to go.”
The win means that Coventry City are currently the only side who has managed to avoid dropping points after going top of League One so far this season.
“It’s a great feeling. We’ve got a great home record, and we want to keep winning here.”