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The curious case of Freddy Eastwood's Coventry City career
Freddy Eastwood conjured up over 100 appearances for Coventry City, he became fondly remembered for becoming the first ever player to score a hat-rick at the Ricoh in October 2009 at home to Peterborough.
Freddy Eastwood signs for Coventry City
In July 2008, Eastwood put pen-to-paper and signed a four-year-deal with the Sky Blues from fellow Championship club Wolverhampton Wanderers. The 24-year-old joined for a fee of just over £1million and linked up with his countryman Chris Coleman.
Coventry had chased Eastwood for a considerable amount of time and finally got their man after Wolves placed him on their transfer list.
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Eastwood’s Coventry arrival
The striker’s time began slowly with his new club; he scored twice in his first 10 outings.
His first goal came at Oakwell against Barnsley in a 2-1 win for Coleman’s men. Sky Blues then visited Blackpool six games later, Eastwood found himself on the score sheet again, grabbing the equaliser in a 1-1 draw with just twenty minutes remaining.
It wasn’t exactly an electric beginning, as Coventry floated in mid-table.
An uninspiring campaign
Eastwood was firmly expected to be the side’s main man, however with just four goals all season, it’s fair to say he didn’t live up to expectations during his first season.
The partnership between himself and Clinton Morrison never got up and running which halted their progress during that particular Championship season.
At one stage, the Welshman went 15 games without scoring – it was a frustrating term all round. Coventry finished in 17th place.
In total he made 53 appearances for club and country that year, finding the net just four times.
An improvement
The start he endured this season was even worse than the previous for the striker, failing to score in his opening 11 games, Coventry won just two games during that period.
Eastwood finally found the net at the end of October at the Ricoh against Reading. The goal counted for little, Sky Blues lost the game 3-1 to the eventual champions, however at last Eastwood got his season up and running.
Over the course of the season, with Coventry looking over their shoulder amid relegation fears, new recruits were brought in to bolster Sky Blues’ goal scoring options. Jon Stead and Freddie Sears were signed on loan in February.
The rise of Leon Best was evident; the youngster scored six goals in the opening 10 games and without his productive contribution who knows what could have happened come the end of that season.
Freddy was able to provide stern competition, doubling his tally from the previous season, scoring on eight occasions.
Landmark
After the club made the move to the Ricoh in 2005, not a single Coventry player had scored a hat-trick up until the 2009/2010 season.
On December 12 2009, Coventry faced Peterborough and won the game 3-2.
Freddy Eastwood became the first ever Sky Blues player to bag three goals in one game at the new stadium, he will go down in the record books because of that moment.
Coleman leaves and Eastwood must prove himself
On the final day of the 2009/2010 campaign, Watford visited the Ricoh and triumphed 4-0. As a result, Chris Coleman was relieved of his duties on May 4 2010.
Aidy Boothroyd was tasked with another difficult Championship challenge.
Best departed for Newcastle United and Morrison joined Sheffield Wednesday.
Eastwood remained one of the only strikers, he played just 30 times that year as Coventry City finished one place better than the previous one in 18th place.
Lukas Jutkiewicz, Marlon King and Gary McSheffrey joined the club and Eastwood’s game time became limited.
Despite this, Eastwood bagged a brace on the opening day as Portsmouth were defeated 2-0 at the Ricoh.
He scored just six times as King overshadowed him and his goal scoring record.
New beginnings
Eastwood was moved on to Southend in March 2011, he made just four appearances for Coventry during the season prior to the move and found himself plying his trade in League Two.
The move back to one of his former clubs, Southend, ended in heartbreak.
They reached the play-offs and faced Crewe Alexandra, only to be knocked out 3-2 on aggregate.
Following the spell in League Two, Eastwood joined Southend on a permanent deal during the summer after his Coventry deal expired and wasn’t renewed.
He went on to feature 31 times, finding the net on just four occasions.
The final season
With the goals seemingly becoming few and far between, not many would have predicted Eastwood’s early season form.
The striker netted four times in Southend’s opening five games as they won all of their first five.
He was a talismanic figure to begin with but his form did abate. He scored just two more times after August ended.
Southend’s form fizzled out and they eventually finished in 11th place.
Freddy Eastwood’s career came to an end at Southend, it was announced his deal was not to be renewed.
During the 2013/2014 season, he announced his retirement from football having made over 350 professional appearances.
