The Ricoh Arena: Coventry City 2-0 Leicester City

Tuesday 19 February 2008

Coventry City 2-0 Leicester City

Aerial shot of the Ricoh Arena (Bing Maps)

Ratings

Overall Ground Quality : 8/10

Ease of getting there : 9/10

Atmosphere : 8/10

Programme : 7/10

View of Action : 10/10

Quality of the game : 5/10

The "football" feeling : 5/10

Chances of coming here for a random game : 7/10

Legroom : 7/10

Surrounding area : 5/10

Overall : 71/100

Programme

East Stand

North Stand

West Stand

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Coventry City 1-0 Gillingham

As soon as it was announced that Coventry City would be moving back to the Ricoh Arena on 21^st August, I (Ross) set about trying to get some tickets for their Friday night home coming fixture against Gillingham.

Ironically, Adrian saw the same fixture the season before at Sixfields in Northampton in front of no more than 3,000 spectators and who would've thought that a season later they would be playing this fixture in front of just over 27,000 supporters back where they belong, the City of Coventry.

I left work at 5pm and went down the A447 to Hinckley where I met up with Adrian before continuing our journey to Cov.

Thanks to Adrian's friend, we borrowed a residential parking permit not too far from the Arena. Due to the challenging residential parking zones around the Ricoh, it can be difficult to find parking and unfortunately the only alternative we found would've been paying for parking near the Arena.

Making the short walk to the Arena crossing over the A444, I took some photos outside before going through the turnstile into the ground.

Never mind the performance, feel the win! This may seem a little harsh but the result was of so much importance in front of 27,306 on the clubs return to their city.
No football has been seen in this midland city for 503 days following a dispute between the clubs owners and ACL, who own the Ricoh Arena. It has meant Coventry City were playing in front of a couple of thousand 39 miles away in Northampton. Supporters were never going to constantly travel to Sixfields and the whole clubs future was clearly heading for oblivion.
Thankfully an agreement has been finally put in place and the Sky Blues are now able to play home games in the place where they take their name.
A magnificent atmosphere generated by the Cov fans and this had the team buzzing. They could have had a penalty; they missed a good chance all in the first few minutes but took the lead in 7 minutes when Frank Nouble fired home a left foot shot from an accurate cross from young Ryan Haynes. Nouble was on his debut following a loan move from Ipswich Town.
You felt Coventry would go on to score a hatful but as the game progressed Gillingham started to have more of a say as the home side failed to capitalise on early opportunities.
Clear cut chances were few and far between but twice Gillingham should have equaliser in the second period with headers going wide and over the bar from dead ball situations.
Coventry were becoming nervous, determined not to disappoint but sometimes lacking the guile and cohesion to trouble the Gills.
John Fleck, probably the City's best player on the night almost increased the lead with the spectacular. A left foot half volley from the bye line which cannoned off the cross bar and spun away from goal off Stephen Bywaters fingers.
Gillingham should have levelled late on, sub Antonio Germans low centre across the 6 yard box just needed a tap in, but Coventry held on.
A great atmosphere, a great occasion and importantly for the Sky Blues a valuable win at home!
With the return to the Ricoh, Coventry City is immediately on an upward spiral. Manager Steven Pressley has done a good job in extraordinary circumstances.
The attendance proves this club has potential; it also has a very good history.
In an interesting stat, Coventry City's last 10 home games’ total attendance is 5,000 less than tonight's attendance!

At the final whistle, with Coventry City supporters still absorbing the atmosphere, we made a quick dash out the ground back to the car.

We were back in Hinckley for 10:30pm where Adrian went back home Leicester bound whilst I went back up the A447 getting home for 11:15pm.

Off to bed now, we have an early start tomorrow. We will be going up to Hartlepool United's Victoria Park for the visit of Shrewsbury Town.

Coventry City 2-0 Leicester City

Adrian and I (Ross) travelled separately to the Ricoh Arena for this Championship relegation battle as well as hotly disputed M69 derby between Coventry and Leicester with both cities being only approximately 24 miles apart.
Adrian went by car from Tamworth, picking up a Sky Blue acquaintance, Ian from Keresley.
I also visited the M69 derby without travelling down the M69, instead going via the M42 and M6 on a supporters coach from my local town, Coalville.
We arrived early to the surprise of the police and drove straight into the coach park near the stadium on the A444 opposite the shopping park next to the Ricoh Arena.
The Ricoh arena is a modern stadium opened in 2005 and owned by Coventry city council. The away fans are housed behind the goal in the Jewson south stand.
So far the stadium has staged club and U21 international football, rugby union and a number of pop concerts.
The game was deservedly won by Coventry City 2-0; Elliot Ward and Leon Best were the goalscorers.
Assisted by around 5,000 travelling fans, this was one of the Sky Blues best attendances of the season, 23,129.
Sadly though for the large visiting support this was not a local derby to remember and relegation to the third tier of English football was starting to become a reality.
On a positive note, the return journey was short and I was back in home at just after 6pm and Adrian approx 15 minutes earlier.