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Coventry City old boys in FA Cup dreamland and Binksy's training ground worldy
It's amazing what a couple of wins can do for morale, both amongst the players and fanbase. And this week Coventry City will attempt to extend the feel-good factor around the club when they entertain Derby County at the CBS Arena on Wednesday night.
Another three points would lift the Sky Blues into the top half of the Championship table - quite a turn-around given they were sitting in the bottom three just a fortnight ago after the 1-1 draw at Queens Park Rangers.
Here we take a look at a what's been going on in and around the club, including players past and present in Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner's weekly notebook.
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Old boys in the FA Cup
Former Coventry City duo Devon Kelly-Evans and Marvin Sordell are dreaming of third-round glory after helping Kettering Town claim a historic 2-1 FA Cup win against county rivals Northampton Town.
The Poppies’ reward is a home draw against League Two Doncaster Rovers who edged in 1-0 at Barrow.
And Coventry-born Richard Lavery – who in February became Kettering’s third manager in the space of four months – will be upbeat about their prospects of going into the hat with the big boys after claiming one of the most eye-catching results of the first round.
Cov Kid Kelly-Evans, who launched his Sky Blues career alongside twin brother Dion in 2017, was named man-of-the-match as the Southern League side came from 1-0 down at half-time to edge through in extra-time.
“He’s had a fantastic game,” said BBC pundit Matthew Upson – “the heartbeat of Kettering’s performance. He’s been everywhere this evening.”
Kelly-Evans, who turned 28 in September, had spells with Nuneaton Borough and Leamington after being released by Mark Robins in 2018 and signed for Kettering last summer.
Sordell, who hit seven goals in 26 games for City after being recruited by Tony Mowbray in the summer of 2016, retired three years later at the age of 28 citing mental health reasons.
But he was tempted out of retirement in September and played his part on Saturday night when he replaced match-winner Nile Ranger in the 97th minute.
Kettering are 79 steps down the football pyramid from their Northants neighbours and had lost their four previous Cup encounters dating back to 1901.
But they fought back magnificently to snatch the decision after falling behind to an own-goal by captain Connor Johnson – teenage substitute Luca Miller producing a superb header to force the additional 30 minutes before Ranger (a transfer target for Andy Thorn during his Newcastle United days) rose to steer home a corner.
The Cobblers threw on former Sky Blues striker Martin Waghorn, signed as a free-agent on Friday to bolster an injury-ravaged squad but he couldn’t find a way through the non-League battlers’ defence.
Binksy scores a worldy
Luis Binks was the talk of the training ground this week when he scored a worldy. And, as luck would have it, City’s media team managed to capture the footage which he later posted on social media.
Binks has earned rave reviews since breaking back into the first team in recent weeks, forming part of a back three combination that has helped turn results around for the Sky Blues. With his calm defending, sweet left peg and driving runs, the 23-year-old is fast becoming a real fans’ favourite.
And he showed he’s not too shabby with his other foot this week when he controlled a low cross on the move with his left and then smashed it into the top corner of the goals at Ryton with his right on the volley.
Take a look for yourselves:
Cheesed off Boro fans
Middlesbrough fans are completely cheesed off with their team’s recent record against the Sky Blues.
One took to social media to emphasise City’s rise to become Boro’s bogey team of late, pointing out that it all started in the 2022/23 season when Coventry’s were looking for their first win of the campaign after a woeful seven game winless run and then claimed a 1-0 CBS Arena victory over the Teessiders.
City then secured their play-off spot at the Riverside Stadium in a 1-1 draw to ensure they finished in the top six, before then facing Boro in the play-off semi-finals, a knocking them out in the process, again, in the North East with Gus Hamer’s goal sending Mark Robins’ men to Wembley.
Coventry’s first win of the 2023/24 season was a 3-0 victory at the CBS and then this term the Riverside was where City got their first away win.
The two sides meet again in the West Midlands on the last day of the season, with the Boro fan signing off his post with: “See you on the final day to hand you our 6th place spot.”
Another Boro fan, Jordan Walker, posted: “We lost 3-0 yesterday, red card or not they had two disallowed at 11 men when they were running all over us. We’d have lost it with 12 men we were s**te from the first whistle. The faster Coventry go up the better. CBA watching us play them anymore.”
Under-21s' away-day win
Rylie Siddall scored the only goal of the game as Sky Blues Under-21s won 1-0 at Crewe Alexandra this week, his goal coming in the 78th minute.
Former Sky Blues man gets first ref contract
Former Sky Blues forward Chris Birchall has become one of the first ex-professional players to become a professional referee, after hanging up his boots. The 40-year-old, who made 29 Championship appearances and scored two goals for City between 2006/09 before going on to play with David Beckham at LA Galaxy, took to social media to announce his new role, saying on X: “I am over the moon to accept a 3 year contract offer from the @FA_PGMOL to become one of the first ex players to transition into professional refereeing!
“Huge thanks to @PFA and @premierleague along with @FA_PGMOL for this opportunity.”
He then had a message for Manchester United legend and ex-England star Gary Neville, adding: “@GNev2 don’t be sceptical, be very excited!”
