Holdsworth and Fowler open fire to conquer Cardiff

Coventry City 3 Cardiff City

Youth and experience, in the form of 20-year-old Lee Fowler and 34-year-old Dean Holdsworth earned Coventry City an FA Cup fourth-round trip to Rochdale last night as both contributed their first goals for the club.

Had Coventry held on to the 2-0 lead they had over Cardiff within 15 minutes at Ninian Park 11 days earlier, this replay would not have been required. But after an exceptional effort from Holdsworth, signed on loan at the end of last month from Bolton, the First Division side dared not make the same mistake again. Nor did they, with a deflected and deserved shot from England Under-21 striker Jay Bothroyd a minute from time extending their unbeaten run to nine games.

Cardiff, however, had travelled in hope and expectation, buoyed by the pre-match assessment of their manager Lennie Lawrence: "You can beat Coventry by attacking from the start.'' Lawrence's men attempted to test his theory in the opening minutes but were unable to create clear chances. Those fell at the other end, with Bothroyd producing shots on goal within the space of three minutes.

Cardiff continued to move forward but their efforts were undermined in the 21st minute by a goal which owed its creation to Bothroyd. Receiving the ball wide on the right inside his own half he lost his marker with a backward flick before dissecting the Cardiff defence, allowing Coventry's rugged little midfielder Fowler a clear run on goal. Fowler made no mistake. It was a tumultuously popular goal at Highfield Road.

Within two minutes, however, Fowler mysteriously found himself in the referee's notebook following a mêlée which developed after a foul on Craig Pead by Cardiff's former Coventry player Willie Boland.

Coventry were beginning to move the ball around as one might expect a side player-managed by Gary McAllister to do. But it took an inspired piece of defending by Coventry's Bosnian centre back Muhamed Konjic to prevent the visitors equalising in the 33rd minute after Jason Rowen's driving run from the right set up Robert Earnshaw with a clear shot on goal. His fluffed drive, however, hit the underside of the bar after glancing off Konjic, whose face was contained in a sinister white mask to protect nose and eye injuries.

Earnshaw was made to pay as Coventry doubled their lead 12 minutes into the second half through a moment of supreme enterprise. A through ball from McAllister found Holdsworth in the inside left position and he cut inside before curling a superlative shot into the top far corner of the net.

It was a stunning piece of football – but Coventry seemed to suffer the aftershock as, within two minutes, they let Peter Thorne a clear header which he thumped against the bar. Greater concentration was required – and forthcoming.

Coventry City (4-4-2): Hyldergaard; Davenport, Konjic, Shaw, Gordon; Pead, Fowler, McAllister, Partridge (Betts, 79); Bothroyd, Holdsworth. Substitutes not used: Montgomery (gk), Mills, Strachan, McSheffrey.

Cardiff City (4-4-2): Alexander; Weston, Young (Collins, 81), Barker, Croft (Campbell, 74); Boland, Rowen, Kavanagh, Legg; Earnshaw, Thorne (Fortune-West, 74). Substitutes not used: Margetson, Maxwell.

Referee: G Poll.