Reece Brown was back in the Coventry side as new manager, and former United striker, Mark Robins took charge of his first game at home to Carlisle. It ended in defeat but the Sky Blues looked like more of a team and Brown did reasonably well at left-back.
Brown came out on top of a personal duel with Danny Cadamarteri despite the veteran winger finding the net from the penalty spot. Brown was strong in the challenge and played a high line with his defence, catching Cadamarteri offside on numerous occasions. Brown started for Coventry at the Emirates too, as the Sky Blues took a 6-1 hiding from the Gunners in the Capital One Cup. He was booked for a foul on Andrey Arshavin which led to penalty and luckily for Brown, Giroud couldn’t find the net with the resulting spot kick as Joe Murphy saved well. It would have been a learning curve for Brown playing in front of over 58,000 people and against a quality forward line of Arshavin, Walcott, Giroud and Chamberlain. He allowed Walcott the space to score his second of the night and will have been disappointed with his and his team mate’s display. Brown would have ironically made the starting XI for United in their league cup tie at home to Newcastle which saw youngsters Marnick Vermijl,Scott Wootton and Michael Keane make their debuts for the club in an inexperienced back-line but playing at the Emirates, despite the result, was not a bad alternative.
It was back to the bread and butter of the league on Saturday as Coventry picked up their first league win of the season against Brown’s former loan club Oldham. Brown was deployed at left-back again and put in a disciplined display earning his first clean sheet of the season too. As a result of this mature performance, Brown was named in the N-Power League One Team of the Week. His team failed to equal the result on Tuesday night as they drew 1-1 with MK Dons but Brown missed the game through injury.
Ben Amos was a busy man once again as his Hull side fell to a 3-1 defeat at Leicester. He would probably be sick of the sight of former England striker David Nugent who notched a hat-trick for the home side. Similar to our current number one, Amos has seemingly been struggling with aerial balls and two of Leicester’s goals came from crosses that were not dealt with properly. Amos wasn’t totally at fault though, as his central defenders, ex-Reds Joe Dudgeon and Alex Bruce, allowed Nugent the space to pick his spot unchallenged with his second of three goals. It was a similar story for Amos and Hull last weekend as Emile Sinclair netted a hat-trick for Peterborough in a 3-1 win at the KC Stadium. He could do nothing to stop Nouha Dicko’s stunning overhead kick for Blackpool on Tuesday night seven minutes from time to send all three points to The Seasiders in a tight encounter which ended 3-2. Kevin Phillips chased a long ball over the top and as Amos went to close him down on the byline, the veteran striker chipped over a cross which was headed clear only as far as Dicko, who flung himself into the air to score a stunning winner.
John Cofie played no part in Sheffield United’s first victory in four attempts against a Yeovil side that have now lost four on the bounce. The 19-year-old could only watch from the bench as his side held out for a hard-fought win. Cofie is getting used to life on the bench as he was watching from the sidelines once again at the weekend as The Blades drew 1-1 with Notts County. He did manage to get on for five minutes and his only notable effort was a header at goal from inside the box which went harmlessly over the target. He played for half an hour on Tuesday as Sheffield United looked for a winner against Hartlepool and his introduction swung the pendulum in United’s favour as his driving runs from the right troubled the Hartlepool defence. He put in a few crosses and had an effort at goal from just outside the box which flew just wide of the left-hand post. His side eventually ran out 2-1 winners thanks to a Paul Gallagher strike in the dying minutes.
Fabio da Silva is currently recovering from a hamstring injury suffered a fortnight ago against Chelsea and will not return to first-team football for a few weeks, yet.