Matchday Memories: On This Day 2009 – Elliott Saves Sky Blues’ Skin In Tykes Tussle
Elliott in the Sky Blue
On this day (21st April) in 2009 a stoppage time penalty from (now CCFPA member) Elliott Ward saved CCFC manager Chris Coleman some embarrassment in this home game when he neutralised an early first half lead from visitors Barnsley.
This equaliser denied the Tykes a crucial victory that would have moved them four points clear of the relegation zone. There were 35 fans over 15,000 present at the Ricoh Arena to see the contest (including 703 fans supporting the Lancashire side). They had expected a City win given the Sky Blues had lowered the visitors colour at Oakwell way back in August winning 2-1 with goals from (now CCFPA member) Freddy Eastwood and Julian Gray.
The visitors had taken an early (ninth minute) lead when Daniel Bogdanovic fired from a cross from the left by Jamal Campbell-Ryce.
City’s saviour was referee Steven Cook who pointed to the spot (on the advice of assistant Martin Dexter) four minutes into added on time when the pair spotted that the ball had struck Tykes defender Rob Kozluk on the arm in the box. The Ricoh crowd were mightily relieved when our central defender, who had earlier headed against the bar (and also been booked alongside Robbie Simpson), coolly lashed the ball home to secure the valuable point.
Chris Coleman
Chris Coleman‘s Sky Blues (CCFPA members underlined):-
Keiren Westwood, Isaac Osbourne, Danny Fox, Elliott Ward, Ben Turner, Aron Gunnarsson, Guillaume Beuzelin (sub. Ashley Cain -73), Marcus Hall, Michael Doyle, Freddy Eastwood and Robbie Simpson.
Unused Subs: Jermaine Grandison, Adam Walker, Curtis Wynter and Andy Marshall (gk)
Barnsley (managed by Simon Davey):
Luke Steele, Bobby Hassell, Darren Moore, Dennis Souza de Guedes (sub. Mounir El Haimour -72), Rob Kozluk, Jamal Campbell-Ryce, Hugo Colace, Anderson De Silva, Adam Hammill, Daniel Bogdanovic (sub. Kayodi Odejayi -85) and Jon Macken. Unused Subs: Andranik Teymourian, Martin Devaney and Heinz Muller (gk) Referee: Steven Cook (Sheffield).
Luke Steele in the Sky Blue
Irishman Martin Daveney was a Sky Blue youngster at U18 level at the end of the twentieth century and Luke Steele was well known at the Ricoh having assisted us on loan from first Manchester United and then West Bromwich Albion on three separate occasions between 2004-07. Former Sky Blue favourite and ‘Maltese Messi’, Michael Mifsud had been on loan at Oakwell since January but was not involved in this game.
According to the contemporary BBC Report of the game the respective managers’ post match opinions were:-
Chris Coleman “It’s harsh for Simon, we have all been there. It will be a tough one for him to swallow I imagine. He is good enough to keep Barnsley up in the league and he is big enough to take any criticism. There was no lack of effort tonight. We kept going and kept going and we got a point.”
Simon Tracey “I thought we did enough to win and take the three points. We had some great chances and got our goal early and when we needed to defend we defended. It’s cruel. We have got to make sure the result and the lateness of the penalty does not affect us. We know what we’ve got to do to make sure of our status.”
