Ipswich show the Wright stuff

13 April 2012

Jimmy Hill wore his Coventry City tie with customary pride on Saturday, but even this most loyal of supporters admitted he could no longer see any way out of the relegation mire.

Hill, of course, was the visionary who took Coventry from fifth-from-bottom in Division Three South in 1961 to the dizzy heights of the old Division One in 1967.

They have remained in the top flight ever since, but this defeat, watched by Hill with a heavy heart from the Port-man Road directors' box - where he was a guest of Ipswich chairman David Sheepshanks - leaves them third from bottom and five points adrift of safety, with just three games left to play.

Hill said: 'It's inevitable these days that every club of Coventry's size will have to take a year or two out of the Premiership. It's very sad and of course it hurts me. But the important thing now is for Coventry to start planning for next season.

'I would already be thinking about preparation for getting promotion from Division One, what to do with my players and any funds that I may have, in terms of bouncing straight back from relegation.

'Charlton have done it and Coventry can, too.

'It's not defeatism that makes me talk like this - it's that five-point gap. There have been miracles before and I am hoping for one - but realistically it is time to get the players' and supporters' minds right so that relegation isn't the end of the world.

'Football is a never-ending race. It could yet be a miserable season followed by a very happy one in Division One.'

Coventry came in to Saturday's game with their hopes high after three recent victories that had brought them to within sniffing distance of Middlesbrough.

Gordon Strachan's players were willing - but so tangibly fearful that you could almost see the anxiety on their faces from high up in the stands.

As such, they were meat and drink for a hungry Ipswich side whose appetite for a Champions League place is growing by the week.

Martijn Reuser was the first to score as he took advantage of Jermaine Wright's neat turn-and-cross to shoot right-footed past Chris Kirkland, and once John Eustace and Craig Bellamy had gone close as Coventry rallied briefly early in the second half, Wright took advantage of slack clearances from Kirkland and Gary Breen to hammer home a right-foot shot into the far corner.

Wright has come of age as a footballer this season, but this was his first goal at Port-man Road and afterwards the Crewe Alexandra graduate revealed: 'I have had problems with scoring and I went to see the club psychologist about it.

'He told me to try to clear thoughts from my mind whenever I was in a scoring position and it has worked for me.

'We are in the UEFA Cup now and that's fantastic. But we want the Champions League.'

As Ipswich continue to look ever upwards, Coventry can now see nothing but trouble ahead.

Strachan, in tetchy mood afterwards, said the club had 'embarrassed' themselves - but the fact is that the roots of the problem can be found in the transfer dealings of last summer.

Breen, for one, made his feelings on the matter clear. 'Mistakes have been made and we let Robbie Keane and Gary McAllister go last summer,' he said.

'They were the two players who provided us with the majority of our goals last season. I don't believe the £13million the club accepted for Robbie needed to be taken there and then. Had they sold him this season he would have been worth much more.

'I know him well and had we asked him to give us another year then I am sure he would have stayed. Gary was important as well, on and off the field.'

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Ipswich show the Wright stuff

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