Sky Blues review 05/06 - part four

The Ricoh record crowd was broken again when Middlesbrough came to Coventry for an FA Cup 4th Round tie in January, with 28,120 watching an entertaining 1-1 draw in which the Sky Blues had the better of the game for long periods.

The Premiership side won the replay 1-0 at the Riverside Stadium but City steadily climbed the league table, thanks to some impressive displays at the Ricoh Arena where they went unbeaten from the middle of November to the start of April, a run of 13 matches in total.

A 2-0 win over second-placed Sheffield United was perhaps the pick of the home games, while City were also minutes away from a win against Leeds United, themselves also chasing promotion at the time.

Poor away form cost any chance of a play-off place as the Sky Blues were well beaten at Watford, Plymouth and Crewe amongst others but to the credit of the players and management team they did not let the season die away.

Results on the road improved towards the end of the campaign as City fought back from two goals down to draw at Wolves and then doubled their tally of away wins for the season with victories at Luton and Stoke.

A final day win at home to Cardiff meant a finish of eighth place in the Championship.

Michael Doyle and Kevin Thornton signed new contracts as Micky Adams began his planning for next season while Richard Shaw bowed out after more than a decade at the club and after a well-attended testimonial against Celtic.

Gary McSheffrey was named as the player of the season and the player's player of the season, Marton Fulop was chosen as the young player of the year.

Off the field, a number of new initiatives, including a kit deal with Puma were announced, which all point to a more stable, more successful future for the club.

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