Saturday 14 August: Sunday Mercury

Watford 2 Coventry 2: Full time report

LATE goals from David Bell and Lukas Jutkiewicz saw Coventry battle back to salvage a point at Watford.

The Sky Blues had struggled to trouble the Hornets' backline and fell behind when Will Buckley headed home on the stroke of half-time.

And Aidy Boothroyd, who led the Hornets to promotion to the Premier League in 2005/06, saw his current side slip further behind when John Eustace struck just before the hour mark.

However, Bell fired home from 25 yards in the 88th minute to reduce the deficit before Jutkiewicz levelled from the spot two minutes later.

The hosts had Scott Loach back between the sticks following the goalkeeper's shock call-up to to the England squad in midweek, which forced Rene Gilmartin to fill in for the 3-0 Carling Cup win at Aldershot.

Boothroyd had a virtually fully-fit squad as they looked to bounce back from their Carling Cup exit at Morecambe, but suffered a blow after just 18 minutes when on-loan goalkeeper Iain Turner was forced off by injury.

The 26-year-old had only arrived at the Ricoh Arena on an emergency loan deal on Saturday morning as cover for Keiren Westwood, who missed the trip due to a family bereavement, but was replaced by Michael Quirke without even having a save to make for the Sky Blues.

Sunday 15 August: Daily Mail

Watford 2 Coventry 2: Late double ensures good return for Aidy Boothroyd

LATE goals from David Bell and Lukas Jutkiewicz saw Coventry battle back to salvage a point at Watford.
The Sky Blues had struggled to trouble the Hornets' backline and fell behind when Will Buckley headed home on the stroke of half-time.

And Aidy Boothroyd, who led the Hornets to promotion to the Premier League in 2005/06, saw his current side slip further behind when John Eustace struck just before the hour mark.

Skipper John Eustace celebrates his fantastic goal

However, Bell fired home from 25 yards in the 88th minute to reduce the deficit before Jutkiewicz levelled from the spot two minutes later.

The hosts had Scott Loach back between the sticks following the goalkeeper's shock call-up to to the England squad in midweek, which forced Rene Gilmartin to fill in for the 3-0 Carling Cup win at Aldershot.

Boothroyd had a virtually fully-fit squad as they looked to bounce back from their Carling Cup exit at Morecambe, but suffered a blow after just 18 minutes when on-loan goalkeeper Iain Turner was forced off by injury.

The 26-year-old had only arrived at the Ricoh Arena on an emergency loan deal on Saturday morning as cover for Keiren Westwood, who missed the trip due to a family bereavement, but was replaced by Michael Quirke without even having a save to make for the Sky Blues.

Neither side managed to create much of note in the opening stages, with Jutkiewicz firing a long-range effort wide of Loach's goal in the first minute before Buckley saw his strike blocked by Ben Turner at the other end.

Quirke, who was making his first-team debut for the Sky Blues, had to make a smart save on the half-hour mark following a close-range effort from Marvin Sordell.

However, the 18-year-old academy product could do nothing to stop Buckley from heading home in first-half injury-time following a cross from Lee Hodson.

The Sky Blues failed to provide a response following the break and slipped further behind in the 58th minute.

Don Cowie's outswinging corner was only partially cleared by Nathan Cameron, allowing veteran midfielder Eustace to acrobatically fire past Quirke.

Subsitute 'keeper Michael Quirke had no chance against Eustace's overhead shot

Boothroyd made a double change shortly after the hour mark in an attempt to inject some life into his side, Clive Platt coming on for Freddy Eastwood and Aron Gunnarsson replacing Gary McSheffrey.

But the Sky Blues remained limited to speculative efforts, with Bell and Michael Doyle failing to hit the target from range, before Gunnarsson headed over from just six yards.

However, Loach was beaten two minutes from time by a powerful drive from Bell to reduce the deficit.

Just two minutes later the Sky Blues had the chance to pull level when Lloyd Doyley fouled Richard Keogh in the box and Jutkiewicz made no mistake as he fired home.

Monday 16 August: Coventry Telegraph Online

Watford 2 Coventry City 2 - Alan Poole's verdict

CERTAIN Coventry City eyebrows were raised the other week when a front-page Telegraph taster referred to a 'keeper crisis' at the Ricoh Arena.

It was, perhaps, an over-simplified summary of a complex situation.

But it proved all too prescient on Saturday as Michael Quirke became City's fourth goalkeeper of the season 15 minutes into their third fixture - a statistic that, if not a crisis per se, surely qualifies as a cause for considerable concern.

The Academy teenager's debut was the culmination of a chain of events that, ironically enough, began down Watford way last Tuesday when Ben Foster ricked his back in an England training session and prompted Birmingham City to recall Colin Doyle from his month's secondment at Coventry inside 24 hours.

That left City without an experienced understudy at Vicarage Road when Keiren Westwood pulled out overnight because of a family bereavement (those of a cynical inclination can insert their own conspiracy theory here), sparking a frantic search for a stand-in that saw Aidy Boothroyd hire Everton's Iain Turner on an emergency loan on Saturday morning.

And the Scot, who has now been farmed out to seven clubs during his seven years on the Goodison books, made Doyle's 90-minute stint seem like a long-service tour of duty when his debut was terminated after a quarter of an hour.

And although the Sky Blues fans optimistically chanted for Steve Ogrizovic to step out of retirement, it was young Quirke who duly trotted out in what must now be regarded as the jinxed purple jersey.

The 18-year-old almost qualified for an instant goal assist via a skilfully flighted free-kick that sent Freddy Eastwood sprinting behind the Watford defence, and he underlined his potential in his primary role with a superb full-length save to deny Marvin Sordell.

But his inexperience was exposed in the third of the four minutes tacked on to the end of the first period when he was lured off his line by Lee Hodson's deep cross and left stranded on the six-yard angle as Will Buckley guided home an admirably precise far-post header.

Will Buckley's header

A particularly demanding coach might have deemed Quirke partially culpable for Watford's second, but that perfectionist judgement would have denied City old boy John Eustace the credit he deserved for a stunning piece of improvisation in the 58th minute.

A right-wing corner was shunted to the opposite edge of the area courtesy of a couple of headers and, almost in slow motion, Eustace launched himself into a spectacular overhead kick that arced over Quirke and squeezed just under the bar.

At that stage the Sky Blues looked dead and buried and Boothroyd seemed to have been totally out-manoeuvred by his one-time apprentice.

City were instantly re-energised, Gunnarsson producing some trademark surges while Platt demonstrated that he is more than a one dimensional target man.

And, two minutes from the scheduled end, it was Platt who collected Richard Keogh's long ball and calmly teed up David Bell for one of his speciality strikes - a venomous drive from the left side of the area into the opposite corner of the net.

The hefty chunk of overtime accumulated when referee Tim Kettle limped off with a calf strain left City scope to upgrade a consolation goal into a share of the points - and, in the fourth of those seven extra minutes, replacement official Andy Perlejewski offered that opportunity when he ruled that Keogh had been fouled during the tussle for a Bell corner.

It was a controversial decision, Mackay erupting with rage on the touchline as Lloyd Doyley was booked for his up-close-and-personal protest.

But Keogh, who had seen an arguably more obvious claim rejected minutes earlier, celebrated with unabashed joy before Lukas Jutkiewicz obliged with a nerveless, impeccably accurate penalty.

By Leigham Stone