Coventry City 1-2 Northampton Town (Carabao Cup, First Round) Coventry Building Society Arena
The new season is officially underway and although it has been a quiet few weeks for me, the chance to visit the Coventry Building Society Arena finally came about after two years of working in Coventry whilst their only professional football club played outside of the city. A strange situation indeed but one that the Sky Blues were familiar with, having in the past shared a ground with their opponents today- Northampton Town.
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| Not done an EFL ground for a long time |
It has been over a year and a half since I made it to a game at an EFL club, which I suppose isn't that surprising given what's happened in that time. Either way it felt like a very long stretch. Incidentally, my last new ground at this level was Birmingham City's St Andrew's Stadium to watch Coventry City at "home" against Bristol Rovers in The FA Cup. For anyone who is a previous reader, you'll know that primarily I am a fan of non-league and despite this being my first cup game of the season, overall it is my eleventh match since pre-season began- and the second competitive fixture I've seen following a 4-4 draw between Winsford and Macclesfield last week. This fifth new ground of the 2021/22 campaign is by far the largest.
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| A 32,000 seater, compared to the usual 320 seaters I frequent |
This Carabao Cup opening round match-up between the Sky Blues and the Cobblers can definitely be considered a rivalry game with just 34 miles of motorway separating the clubs, and although the hosts for today would be expecting a win against their lower league opponents, these early round league cup matches always have the possibility of a "cupset". My first ever away game as a Macclesfield Town fan was at Hull City back in 2011 and I was one of 50 travelling fans who got to see the Silkmen win 2-0 at the KC Stadium. More recently, I've attended a cup game at West Ham with Macc. We lost that one 0-8. Despite this, I still fancied the Championship club to edge it in this one, predicting a 2-1 home win as I sat and pondered the line-ups during a pre-match pint at the Cherry Tree near the stadium. I found the area where the Arena lives to be surprisingly more built-up than expected, having seen on Google maps that it sits right on the outskirts of the city. I'd parked-up in the Foleshill region of the city and walked North, which allowed me to absorb more the delights of Coventry's local scene. Of course many fans will remember the old Highfield Road that was located three miles south of the Arena- and more importantly quite central to the city. I've had the debate many a time with fans about city centre vs out of town location for stadiums and ultimately I think that as long as there is easy public transport access for fans either is fine. I lived in Stoke-on-Trent for many years and understood their fans frustration having moved from an amazingly easy to access town centre area, to a new stadium that is ultimately a constant traffic jam to contend with on any matchday. At least with Coventry, there is a decent train station literally right outside.
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| Ideal for anybody who likes a few matchday pints |
Coventry City began their league campaign a few days prior to this tie by beating Nottingham Forest 2-1 with a spirited late fightback, whilst the Cobblers had edged past ten-man Port Vale with a 1-0 victory at Sixfields. Both sides appeared to have made a mass amount of changes, which for me meant that I got to see former Macc Town players Fraser Horsfall and Paul Lewis line-up for Town. The away fans were housed high above the goal at the one end of the ground giving them the perfect acoustics to blast out their support towards the team looking to overcome a side who are two leagues superior. The Sky Blues started off stronger and took an early lead just after the ten minute mark thanks to Tyler Walker, son of former England international Des. Some would call it a tap-in, but actually I'd say it wasn't even that as the poacher walked it in to Northampton's goal. Coventry 1-0 Northampton. Two minutes later the hosts missed a sitter, ten minutes after that the Cobblers post was rattled and then in the 33rd minute a strike by the home side was blocked by a desperate defender's knee. Failing to go into the break two up would really come back to bite them, but not before I could grab a bite myself.
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| Pie time! |
My half-time was a tale of bitter disappointment crossed with surprising joy as I attempted to find a pie and a pint. The queue for food was fairly meaty, unlike their selection of products as I finally made it to the front only to be told there was only Cheese & Onion Pies left. I hadn't eaten since lunchtime and so I begrudgingly obliged to the warm, quiche-like, snack and then headed on my merry way. At this point, I saw people walking past from another part of the stand with what looked like the much desired Steak & Ale. My tears of sadness soon dried up though as I found an almost empty kiosk serving Purity Ale, an absolute bonus for me as I'd only moments ago rejected an overpriced tinnie. As the old saying goes, you win some, you lose some.
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| An incredible find for a much needed HT beer |
In truth the second-half belonged to one man. Kion Etete, making his first senior start, is a 19-year old loanee striker from Spurs who took the game by the scruff of the neck after half-time. Seven minutes after the restart the Derby-born lad grabbed a goal to spark excitement in the away end as he tucked home a goal that everyone had to admit had been coming. Coventry 1-1 Northampton. With an hour gone there was a definite feel that the next goal would win it and the over 5,000 in attendance could all start to feel tensions rising. Etete wrote the headlines in the end as a 70th minute flick towards goal was deemed to cross the line by the ref. Coventry 1-2 Northampton. Although the team lining-up today was much weaker than the side they'd sent out the previous Sunday, the fans still showed their frustrations at being behind to a local rival from much lower down the pyramid than themselves. One lad in the same row as me asked "how did we go from beating Nottingham Forest to losing against Northernhampton Town?". Nope, not a typo.
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| Full-Time and it's the Cobblers who make it through... |
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| ...after a big win for the travelling supporters |
The Cobblers reward for this impressive win will be a home tie against League One AFC Wimbledon, who also beat Championship opposition in the First Round in the form of Charlton Athletic. Since this game, the Cobblers have also knocked off Colchester in a League Two outing to keep up a perfect start to the season, whilst Coventry yesterday went down 0-1 to Barnsley. Their Yorkshire opponents only managed one shot on target. Meanwhile for 'Pint of Football, there will hopefully be another new ground to write about very soon, with a trip to Ilkeston on the cards midweek.
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