Football: Wright aggravates strain

Owen Slot
Sunday 14 March 1993 00:02 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Coventry City. .0

Arsenal. . . . .2

FIRST things first - Ian Wright did play, he did not get booked and so he did not discount himself from Arsenal's FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on 4 April. However, after getting on the scoresheet he limped off having aggravated the groin strain that has been troubling him for over a month.

After the game, George Graham, the Arsenal manager, said that Wright may have a hernia and will be rested for four days before undergoing tests to see if he needs an operation which could keep him out of the semi-final, the Coca-Cola Cup final two week's later and England's forthcoming qualifying matches.

The game was an innocuous affair contested by two tired-looking sides. Arsenal were the superior outfit, though Coventry started more dominantly, forcing Tony Adams and Martin Keown to soak up some early pressure.

When Coventry's defence was tested, though, it was with less impressive results - two goals inside a minute was a double set-back from which they never recovered.

The first was created by a delightful through ball from Arsenal's renascent Paul Davies which found Kevin Campbell poorly marked and in space to fire low past the goalkeeper Steve Ogrizovic. The second was the result of a total defensive misunderstanding that set up Wright for his 26th and probably easiest goal of the season.

The mix-up was between Ogrizovic and Peter Atherton who was standing on the edge of the area. They were undecided who was going to clear the ball when Wright approached, took the ball unchallenged, and slotted it into an unguarded net. Wright may have been missing his regular provider Alan Smith yesterday, but never can Smith have served him up a better chance.

With a mere 60 minutes to run, this goal was enough to allow the Gunners to slip back into semi-repose and observe their opponents' ineffective action. Coventry did take control again, but it was 10 minutes before the end when they finally tested David Seaman for the first time.

Coventry City: S Ogrizovic; B Borrows, P Babb, P Atherton, D Busst, J Williams, P Ndlovu, K Gallacher, D Rennie, L Jenkinson (L McGrath, 73 min), S Flynn (M Gynn, 73 min). Sub not used: J Gould (gk). Manager: B Gould.

Arsenal: D Seaman; L Dixon, M Keown, P Davis, A Linighan, T Adams, R Parlour, I Wright (A Limpar, 63 min), K Campbell, P Merson (D Hillier, 84 min), S Morrow. Sub not used: A Miller (gk). Manager: G Graham.

Referee: D Allison (Lancaster).

Goals: Campbell (0-1, 28 min); Wright (0-2, 29 min).

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in