On this day (July 11th) in 2006 the Sky Blues were in the United States to kick off their pre-season activities to ready themselves for the upcoming Championship season.
Three days earlier, former player, now ‘gaffer’ (and now a CCFPA member) Micky Adams had seen his side get a 1-1 draw at full-time in Oregon against the Portland Timbers (though they lost the resultant US style penalty shoot out 3-4)! The squad had moved to the environs of Salt Lake City, Utah for the next game.
Gary McSheffrey in action
Kevin Thornton in the Sky Blue
This evening’s game was the first of a double header against the same side BYU Cougars at South Field Stadium Provo, Utah in front of a crowd of 2,187. The Sky Blues eased past the American side (managed by Chris Watkins) by a slightly flattering 3-0 thanks to three second half goals. New Sky Blue recruits Elliott Ward and Wayne Andrews made their debuts against the Brigham Young University side (owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints aka the Mormons) with Elliott partnering Mikkel Bischoff at centre-half.
Andy in the Sky Blue
The first goal came from ‘Cov Kid’ Gary McSheffrey on 57 minutes and the lead was doubled when young Kevin Thornton (who had been sent off in Portland and, like Gary is now a CCFPA member ) put one away with a couple of minutes left on the clock. The icing on the cake came just on time with a goal from (also now a CCFPA member) Andy Morrell.
ImageThe Sky Blues featured a large proportion of the touring party in the game making wholesale substitutions after 65 minutes (in brackets).
The team lined up as below (substitutes at 65 mins in brackets -CCFPA members are underlined) :-
Andy Marshall; Andrew Whing(David MacNamee), Mikkel Bischoff (Ben Turner), Elliott Ward (Matt Heath), Marcus Hall(Stuart Giddings); Colin Cameron(Jay Tabb),Michael Doyle (Isaac Osbourne), Stephen Hughes (Kevin Thornton), Gary McSheffrey (‘Dele Adebola); Don Hutchison (Claus Bech Jorgensen) and Wayne Andrews (Andy Morrell).
The Coventry Telegraph report of the game can be found by clicking here and a contemporary report from the USA appears below:-
Two days later the two sides treated themselves to another contest and this time the Sky Blues ran riot and won by ten clear goals! The 2006-07 Championship season was not a memorable one. Micky was sacked in mid January 2007 with Iain Dowie taking over ensuring a seventeenth place finish.
CCFC 2006-07
Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young (& Dean Nelson) for sourcing the images.
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