| Two goals by Marcelo clinched a 2-0 victory for Blues over Coventry in the local derby at St Andrews. | |||
He pounced first after 17 minutes and again on the hour, both times converting crosses from his strike partner Geoff Horsfield to take his goal tally for the season to eight - all of them coming in his last eight appearances. Blues had gone five games without victory, which had seen them slip into the bottom half of the First Division. Coventry, like the Blues, had lost their last two games having previously managed 11 league games without defeat. Defender, Steve Vickers had the first chance of the match when he met Nicky Eaden's inviting cross at the far post but his glancing header bounced just wide. Then, Marcelo completed a slick four-man move to give Blues the lead on 17 minutes. Midfielder Curtis Woodhouse fed the ball into the path of former Coventry left-back David Burrows. Burrows then rolled a pass to Horsfield who turned on the right-hand edge of the Coventry area before floating over a cross. Marcelo was unmarked in acres of space and he dived full length to head past stranded Coventry goalkeeper Magnus Hedman. However, Blues' advantage should have been short-lived as only an amazing goal-line clearance in the 24th minute from on-loan Middlesbrough right-back Curtis Fleming kept them in front. Coventry midfielder Laurent Delorge picked out £5million striker Lee Hughes who then outpaced Blues other on-loan Middlesbrough defender Steve Vickers, who slipped on the wet surface. Having beaten Vickers, Hughes turned his central defensive partner Darren Purse and curled in a shot from 12 yards which beat goalkeeper Ian Bennett and looked destined to fly into the back of the net. But the back-tracking Fleming arrived acrobatically on the goal-line to deflect the ball over the bar with his knee. Coventry sent on striker Julian Joachim to join Hughes in attack at the start of the second half, but Coventry's hopes of a comeback were snuffed out just 15 minutes after the re-start. Once again the damage was done down Coventry's right flank as makeshift midfielder Martin Grainger picked out Horsfield. The marksman crossed for Marcelo who again beat Hedman with a well-placed, downward header. |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
