They think its all over, they may have to think again

3.45 - We are staying up

I like many at half time at Ashton Gate on Monday allowed myself to believe that City would hold onto to the lead they had gained through Jon Stead's own goal through the second half and come away from Bristol with the valuable three points that were so desperately needed in the battle to avoid the drop, however 45 minutes and an inept second half performance later this belief of mine had been shot down in flames or maybe that should be rain. Worse still was what I can only describe as one of my most unpleasant moments as a Coventry fan, what seemed the longest walk out of a ground ever in the p*ssing rain with a few thousand Bristolians pointing out the fact that we may be going down this season (In all fairness we didn't need a load of cider drinking farmers to tell us that). Maybe it was Karma on my part as I had boldly predicted in my previous blog that we would stay up and Bristol would go down. At this point you may think I would accept the fact that relegation is an inevitability, ye of little faith, there is in my opinion many, yes many reasons with the City can stay up. I've been able to get down the many reasons to five main reasons why the Sky Blues can still stay up.

4.45 - Oh Dear

Reason 1 - Fixtures - With Millwall's win over Pompey last night it is now more than likely that the final relegation spot is between us and Bristol City, with this the final four fixtures of the two teams come into play. Bristol City's next two games are against promotion chasing Birmingham away and West Ham at home, it doesn't take a genius to work out the point I am making, that these two sides are just about guaranteed to be in the play-offs and should therefore have the quality to beat Bristol. Obviously this is the championship where anything can happen, but when you look closer at these fixtures you see that Birmingham have only lost one game at home all season and that West Ham have the best away record in the division. Add to this that we have two very winnable home games to come against Millwall and Doncaster, results in the fact that we should at least be able to take the relegation battle to the last day of the season.

We can only dream

Reason 2 - Oliver Norwood and Alex Nimley - Originally I was more impressed with Nimely than Norwood but the Northern Ireland international has impressed during the last ten or so games with his passing ability being particularly good. The fact that on Monday the fans had to chant Nimely's name to get him on the pitch shows his worth to the team (Lets face it he's the only player we have with real pace). Both players have been vital to getting City into a position where we can still fight for survival and I believe that they will both be key in the final games of the season.

Alex Nimely

Reason 3 - Fortress Ricoh - No one could ever say that the Ricoh has been an intimidating place for an away team to come to, but currently it appears that it is as we are unbeaten in six games at home. We need to use this to our advantage and I plead with anybody reading this blog (and that is quite a lot of people) to buy tickets for the final two games at the Ricoh and try and revive a Highfield Road-esque atmosphere.

Reason 4 - Brett Pitman - Bristol City's striker was red carded for a shocking tackle on Jordan Clarke on Monday and as a result he will miss the Robins next three games. I would now like to point out the fact that he is their top scorer this season and without him they do have trouble scoring. 

Reason 5 - The Return of David Bell - Yes I'm serious David Bell could be the answer to all Cov fan's prayers. Ever since Carl Baker pulled up with a Hamstring injury against Birmingham, the right side of the diamond position has been city's major weak link. Conor Thomas, Gael Bigirimana and most recently Gary Deegan have all been played their and all struggled. This is where Belly comes in, no-one really knows his best position he's not an out and out winger and not quite a central midfielder but maybe something in between. Whereas Thomas, Bigi and Deegan are naturally definsively minded midfielders, Bell has flair and skill to his game and in my opinion would be naturally suited to that position. 

David Bell

Well there they are, five fool proof reasons as to why Coventry City will stay up. Failing these five reasons we can only hope that Clive Platt actually starts to play like his name sake Michel Platini.

Clive Platt

Michel Platini