CCFC gaffer- Andy Thorn,
On this day (July 16th) in 2011 the Sky Blues, since the previous March under the managerial guidance of Andy Thorn (now a CCFPA member), were preparing for their new Championship season by kicking off pre-season at near neighbours Nuneaton Town (by now a traditional venue for such matters)! The game produced a 2-2 stalemate.
As usual plenty of players were put on the pitch during the game to catch their respective manager’s attention, one such being striker Roy O’Donovan (fairly recently signed up by this Association) who had last pulled a Sky Blue shirt on the previous January and had only managed four outings the previous season with his only start coming in the Carling Cup first-round defeat at Morecambe.
Roy O’Donovan in the Sky Blue
Roy came on in the second half (one of nine second half City changes) to stake a claim by scoring a brace after the Borough’s debutant Lee Smith had given the homesters a 29th minute lead. His first was a coolly taken finish from sixteen yards off the underside of the bar after being put through by (now fellow CCFPA member) Conor Thomas. His second came when he cut across the box to finish incisively into the corner past James Wren, the Borough’s substitute goalie.
Roy’s brace for the Sky Blues came in the 66th and 88th minutes and looked certain to claim a win for the Sky Blues at Liberty Way in front of 1,440 spectators (including 450 members of the Sky Blue Army). However, it was not to be as Boro’s recent signing, on as a substitute, Danny Glover netted in the last minute for Kevin Wilkins‘ side to ensure honours were even at the final whistle in this local derby.
The contemporary BBC Sport report of the game can be found by clicking here.
Conor in the Sky Blue 2015
Andy Thorn‘s Sky Blues took the field as follows (CCFPA members underlined):-
Joe Murphy, Cyrus Christie , Chris Hussey, Richard Keogh, Martin Crainie, Sammy Clingan, David Bell, Carl Baker, Lukas Jutkiewicz, Freddy Eastwood and Gary McSheffrey.
Subs: Richard Wood, Nathan Cameron, Gael Bigirimana, Callum Wilson, Conor Thomas, Roy O’Donovan, Shaun Jeffers, Josh Ruffels, Aaron Phillips, Gary Gardner, James McPake and Chris Dunn (gk).
Nuneaton’s side was as follows.
Danny Alcock, James Armson, Eddie Nisevic, Marc Noon, Gareth Dean, Mark Albrighton, Sam Belcher, Adam Walker, Lee Smith, Lee Moore, Hinton.
Adam Walker in the Sky Blue
Other Subs: Luke Taylor, Alex Gudger, Tom Manship, Simon Forsdick, Danny Glover, Ben Whittaker, Richard Lavery, Robbie Burns, Aaron James, Guy Hadland and James Wren (gk) Referee:- Eddie Smart
Both Mark and Adam were former Sky Blue youngsters now playing for the Borough and both are now CCFPA members (Adam most recently).
The Sky Blues were undefeated in their pre-season apart from the final game, a 3-0 home defeat to Norwich City. They won at Hinckley United, Kettering Town and Leamington FC and also drew 2-2 at Chesterfield Town. However, the season proper did not go anywhere near so well as the club was relegated to League One and even lost at home to bottom club Doncaster Rovers in the penultimate game!
CCFC 2011-12
Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young for sourcing the images.
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