Matchday Memories: On This Pre Season Day 2002 – Tho’ McAllister’s Men Get German Win, Gary Gripes

On this day (19th July) in 2002 CCFC continued their preparations for their upcoming Division One campaign. As part of an extensive challenge of nine pre-season games the Sky Blues were in their third match in five games in Germany, including a three game tournament in Nurnberg. Having slammed German fifth tier club SV Neusorg 1932 by six clear goals they got a disappointing 1-1 draw against VFR Aalen (with John Eustace getting our 49th minute goal).

Gary in the Sky Blue

This evening’s match saw the Sky Blues take on German outfit VfB Auerbach and, though they won 3-2, player/manager Gary McAllister was less than happy with his players who served up a sloppy second half display. There were only around twenty hardy Sky Blue fans amongst the 1,150 crowd.

The manager (who brought himself on as a sub during the game) told the Coventry Telegraph,

“It was a wee bit disappointing in the way we finished the game because we were very comfortable in the first half and I was pleased with the way it was going. But as the game went on the pace died out of our play and it got a little bit flat and sloppy.

I would like to have finished with a bit more focus and concentration at the end. I don’t think it was fatigue but rather the fact that it was maybe too easy and it just shows you that even against a lesser team, if you don’t give them the right respect they can come back and cause you problems, and they did just that.

Laurent Delorge in the Sky Blue

“That was a concern along with the lack of concentration in the second half. I thought we did things properly in the first half but then we just eased off and we need to put that right quickly because the game is all about concentrating and staying focused right through the entire 90 minutes.”

Gary Mac praised the City attack and the contribution of right winger (and recent CCFPA member) Laurent Delorge who got in seventy minutes early in his rehab. He saw the defence, particularly in the second half, as suspect and needing improvement to meet the rigours of a Division One season.

Lee Mills in the Sky Blue

City’s strike force got all their goals in the first half with an early brace from (recent CCFPA recruit) Lee Mills within the first five minutes and a finish from Jay Bothroyd five minutes before the break sending the Sky Blues in at the break 2-0 to the good.   Auerbach hit back quickly in the second period with goals from Schweize two minutes in and Schlarz-Schmidt eight minutes after the break making the rest of the game more testing for the Sky Blues than it needed to be!

Jay Bothroyd in the Sky Blue

City’s team was as follows (subs in brackets: CCFPA members underlined):-

Magnus Hedman, Dean Gordon ( Mo Konjic -2), Craig Pead, Barry Quinn, Richard Shaw, Robert Betts (Gary McAllister -4), Laurent Delorge (John Eustace -1), Jay Bothroyd (Ysrael Zuniga -3), Lee Mills (Julian Joachim -6),  Jairo Martinez and Youssef Chippo (Youssef Safri -5)

In the end it was a successful pre-season with only one defeat (and two draws) in the nine games, though that was in the final of the tournament at Nurnburg  when we were beaten 2-0 by the hosts.

CCFC 2002-03

In Division One, after a good first half of the season, the thoughts of Sky Blues fans turned towards the play-offs but, in a dire second half to the season with only one F.A.Cup win and one League victory from the turn of the year a twentieth place finish was all they could manage (two places and four points above the drop zone)!

Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young for sourcing the images.