Coca Cola Championship
Saturday August 20th
Attendance: 23,000
Coventry City 3	Queens Park Rangers 0
C.Jorgensen	Dan Shittu Sent Off
D.Adebola (2)

Our second away game of the season saw us visit our second new stadium of the season.

The trip to Coventry was the first ever day of the new Ricoh Stadium and chaos was being predicted with parking and bus travel labelled a nightmare before it had even started. It turned out the only chaos would be in the QPR back four but more of that later.

To avoid the £7 park and ride scheme we decided to park in the town centre for £4 and then get a bus to the ground. This worked out quite well although we arrived at the ground by half one which was far earlier than we expected. We weren't alone as almost 1,000 fans were there very early and after a long queue to get in we were inside the found and queuing for a beer well before 2pm which is the earliest I think I've ever been inside a league ground.

The new stadium looked impressive (although £6 a programme was taking the piss) from the outside but inside the concourse didn't look finished. The lights didn't work in the food bar (which ran out of food by half two), pipes were leaking water and the toilets were soon flooded. Modern Stadiums, you've got to love them! These kinds of problems were expected though and once we got to our seats the stadium did look impressive.

The Ricoh Arena looked similar to most new stadiums but the atmosphere was very good with the roof making sure the acoustics were excellent.

As Rangers warmed up Coventry brought out their legends for the grand opening. Micky Gynn, Dave Phillips, Dave Bennett and Cyrill Regis were followed by Jimmy Hill and then Richard Keys as the bottom of the barrel was scrapped.

You'd have thought a few more legends might have turned up but for the occasion. Mr Coventry City Jimmy Hill (also known as Mr Fulham and that twat with the big chin) got on the microphone and sung lets all sing together which the home fans joined in with and it was all very nice as they let off lots of balloons.

After all that it was time for the football to start. Coventry came out wearing their famous Tesco Carrier bag kit whilst Rangers were in the Dennis the menace shirts.

Something happened in the tunnel as the players came out between Shittu, Doyle and Adebola and Shittu looked furious as he was held back from the Coventry players during the warm up and it was all kicking off. Once Shittu calmed down we were able to notice the changes the team.

Georges Santos, Martin Rowlands and Tom Doherty were all missing from last week's team through injury. This meant we saw three full debuts as Dominic Shimmin, Aaron Brown and Stefan Moore were in the starting eleven.

It was good to see 17-year-old Shimmin made his debut and he'd need some calm heads around him to help get him through the game. Sadly instead he had Danny Shittu who had been wound up by Coventry and allowed it to badly affect his performance.

Within a minute the home side should have been in front as Rangers gave a hint of what was to come. A free kick was crossed into the middle and McSheffrey headed just wide with the Rangers defence looking all over the place. The home side were well up for this, flying into tackles and looking very hungry. They were first to everything and whenever a QPR player got the ball they had three Coventry players closing them down which we never looked comfortable with.

McSheffrey was looking lively and lobbed Royce from 30 yards out but the Rangers keeper never looked in trouble as it floated over the bar. At the other end Coventry were getting well stuck in which was giving Rangers plenty of free kicks. Paul Furlong struck one of these from 25 yards out but it was straight at Bywater and an easy save for him.

As the game was being fought in midfield I noticed Gabriel Clarke of ITV's the Championship show sat in front of us with a fan in a wheel chair as he did his bit of talking to fans and pretending to be interested.

I wondered if I'd be on the TV highlights of the game but after a few minutes of me constantly swearing and moaning at what was happening that made sure I stayed off TV. We had good reason to moan as Rangers fell apart against a buoyant home side.

Shimmin was dragged out of position to help Bignot out as McSheffrey drifted out wide. He crossed into the middle and Claus Jorgensen was completely unmarked as he ran into the box and headed into the corner with Royce wrong footed.

As he ran off to celebrate the first ever goal at the Ricoh we saw Marc Bircham looking angry with himself and so he should as he failed to track the run of the midfield player and that cost us. With Doherty out we needed Bircham to play the defensive midfield role but he was having a mare and allowing Coventry to break through us at will and get at our defence which was given sod all protection.

We were looking a shambles at the back as the home side were flying in with tackles, closing us down and we struggled to get any rhythm going. The full backs didn't seem to want the ball from Royce so we had to go long and it was all too easy for Coventry to deal with.

The referee was flashing plenty of yellow cards. Some of them were deserved for some bad tackles on Rangers players whilst Dominic Shimmin was booked for having a kick at Adebola after he had once again fouled Shittu.

Rangers were rattled and a lack of options for Royce saw him kick it long but it didn't even make the halfway line. The ball was knocked to the right wing and Adebola easily out muscled Rose and then smashed a shot past Royce at the near post which the keeper should have saved. It was no more than the home side deserved for such a strong start to the game, Rangers were lacking that extra bit of fight and Coventry were really bullying us out of the game.

Some of the tackles were well over the top though and it seemed laughable that the home fans were booing some of our players who were subject to some awful tackles. They even did the old slow handclap when Furlong was down after he clashed heads with a Coventry defender. Furlong was up and the Coventry defender was getting treatment but they still booed and sung you don't know what your doing to the ref. The pressure they put on him obviously worked with some of his later decisions.

As half time approached we looked like we were starting to settle down as Ainsworth had an effort well saved from just inside the box. Coventry had only really had two shots on target and both had gone in, their third effort continued along the same lines as they made it 3-0 before half time. A cross from the right by Scowcroft feel to Shimmin who tired to clear but sliced his clearance against his own post, nine times out of ten that would have bounced away for a corner but on this day it was all going Coventry's way and the ball bounced out to Adebola to make it 3-0 with a simple tap in.

It was hard to believe we were 3-0 down but it was a poor first half performance with the back four just not being able to cope with the physical presence of Adebola and Scowcroft. Micky Adams had done his homework well, he'd got his team to get stuck into us from the first minute and we just hadn't coped with it. Ian Holloway must have given the team a right bollocking at half time but few expected it to make a difference as the game looked over.

We looked a little better after the break but Coventry still looked more like scoring than we did.

Around ten minutes into the half things got even worse. Adebola got away from Shittu and Big Dan had a pull of Adebola's shirt, the big striker shook him off though and was clean through before throwing himself to the floor to get Shittu sent off. It worked but wasn't the most professional thing to do and ended up costing him the match ball. For a player of his size and strength to go down like that was frankly embarrassing.

Holloway moved to bring on Mauro Milanese for his debut in place of the disappointing Aaron Brown with Matthew Rose moving to central defence.

The free kick came to nothing and surprisingly we looked more solid with ten men. Milanese added a touch of class to the defence and was getting stuck in whilst Rose and Shimmin looked far more composed with the change.

The midfield was still poor though. Bircham was anonymous whilst Ainsworth was trying hard but offering very little.

It was left to Gallen who looked our best midfield player despite playing out of position. Gallen was tracking back to win the ball and hardly wasted a pass something a few of his team mates could do with following.

Holloway made two more changes as the poor Marcus Bignot and Marc Bircham went off to give a debut to Ugo Ukah at right back and Marcus Bean was also brought into the action. Coventry continued to create chances as Royce twice denied Adebola but we were having far more possession in the second half and without looking like scoring.

Stefan Moore had hardly been involved all game but a good run at the Coventry defence brought a decent chance, which he fired wide. In the end Coventry comfortably saw the game out and finished the first game in their new stadium with a nice 3-0 win.

Getting back home after the game was far easier than expected, at most new grounds such as Reading it is chaos to get away but at Coventry things seems pretty well thought out and we were back in town centre within an hour.

On the pitch it was one of those dire performances that Rangers seem to produce 2 or 3 times a season and have done for as long as I can remember. We were pretty poor from the first minute and Coventry seemed to score every time they attacked. The back four never got to grips with what is hardly the best forward line in the Championship. At times Shittu was making Adebola look like Thierry Henry and it's performances like this, which remind you that Shittu still has much to improve on if he is to make it in the Premiership.

Dominic Shimmin had a difficult debut and was at fault for the third goal but he did show glimpses of his potential and had an improved second half alongside Rose. Many will argue that our lack of creativity in midfield cost is but we could have the most creative player in the world playing in midfield for us but if our defensive man Bircham can't be arsed to track his man and decides to give him a free run and free header on goal then we have no chance.

Bircham showed yesterday exactly why we signed Tom Doherty and exactly why he's not as good as the Irishman. Even Marcus Bean showed him up when he came on and looked a far better defensive midfield player who even managed to find a teammate with a pass. I'm not usually one to slate Bircham but he was awful yesterday.

Up front Moore got no service at all and was quiet whilst Furlong had a very disappointing game, he badly needs a goal at the moment.

The only real positives were the substitutes. Mauro Milanese looked a very good left back who was good on the ball and strong in the tackle. Ugo Ukah also impressed at right back and could push Bignot out of the side after his indifferent form so far this season.

So a poor performance and result but not the end of the world. These things happen during a season and we now just have to bounce back and show what we are made of against Northampton on Tuesday and Sheffield Wednesday on Friday.

Man of the Match: Kevin Gallen
Players Ratings: Royce 6, Bignot 5 (Ukah 7), Rose 6, Shittu 5, Shimmin 6, Ainsworth 6, Bircham 5 (Bean 7), Gallen 7, Brown 5 (Milanese 7), Furlong 5, Moore 5

The Managers View

"Coventry definitely wanted to win didn't they? They were like lions and we were like sheep. "You could tell from the first sprint and the first tackle they really wanted it whereas we were really awful out there. "I had seven first-team players out injured but my lot should have made a better fist of it than that, especially given all the preparation we did going into the game. "We could have been 1-0 down in the first minute and then conceded in the 10th minute. After that Dele Adebola outsprinted us and beat up the defender before beating the goalkeeper at his near post. "For the third goal I feel a bit sorry for Dominic Shimmin because the ball sliced off his foot, onto the post and straight to Adebola. That said, I thought Adebola was the man of the match, whether or not he did go down like a pansy for the sending off."