Two goals, five minutes, job apparently done
Coventry City needed 180 seconds to score at Home Park on Tuesday night and 300 to score twice. Taiwo Awoniyi ran onto a flick from Caleb Yirenkyi, who had spun onto skipper Liam Kitching’s through ball, and side-footed past James Storer with time to pick his corner. It was his first goal for the club.
Two minutes later a break down the right ended with Awoniyi releasing Jack Rudoni, who beat Storer again from the edge of the box. Premier League newcomers against a League One side, 2-0, and the second round of the EFL Cup looked settled before the crowd had finished arriving.
It was not settled. Coventry’s only major trophy remains the 1987 FA Cup, and for an hour on Tuesday the club looked determined to protect that statistic.
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Plymouth found a way back
Irow pulled one back on 21 minutes, cutting in from the left after Harvey White picked him out with a pass from inside his own half. The winger, who has just arrived on loan from Tottenham, beat Daniel Bentley low into the far corner on his debut.
Awoniyi headed wide from six yards six minutes later, the sort of miss that changes an evening. Plymouth levelled nine minutes into the second half when half-time substitute Xavier Amaechi robbed Kitching, drove into the box and hammered a low finish past Bentley.
Coventry’s answer came from the bench. Ephron Mason-Clark entered on 62 minutes and scored on 67, turning in Victor Torp’s cross from close range. Torp then converted a penalty on 78 minutes after Joe Edwards fouled Brandon Thomas-Asante, and the tie was finally out of reach.
Lampard was honest about the middle hour
“It was a great start to the game, two really good goals, high quality goals,” Frank Lampard said afterwards. “Maybe we relaxed or something but we didn’t put our foot down. When you get teams in that situation you should go and put your foot properly down and we didn’t.”
He was blunter about the equalisers. “Big mistakes for the goals, we must be honest about that, and then a good reaction to win the game pretty well.” Lampard had made several changes from Friday’s league fixture and framed the night as a look at players pushing for places. Coventry go into the third round draw. Plymouth go back to League One with four debutants who gave their manager something to think about.
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