Coventry City match analysis from CoventryLive as Sky Blues reporter…
Coventry City match analysis from CoventryLive as Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner looks at some of the big talking points from the 5-0 FA Cup victory over Maidstone
Maidstone United manager George Elokobi salutes the fans of both teams after the Emirates FA Cup fifth round match at the Coventry Building Society Arena, Coventry.
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Coventry City’s Ellis Simms scored a first-half hat-trick to crush Maidstone’s dream of a historic FA Cup quarter-final, but book the Sky Blues place in the last eight for the first time in 15 years and only the third time since lifting the trophy in 1987.
Sixth-tier Maidstone were bidding to become only the second non-league team in 109 years to reach the sixth round, having already dispatched English Football League sides Barrow, Stevenage and Ipswich. But they came up against a slick Championship side who had secured their own passage in the competition with Simms’ treble inside the first 35 minutes, aided by Kasey Palmer who had a hand in all three goals.
Fabio Tavares added two more late in the game as Mark Robins’ men strolled into the quarters for the first time since 2009, while the Stones were left to celebrate the fact that they were the first team outside the top five divisions to reach round the fifth round since Blyth Spartans in 1978. Here are some of the big talking points and things learned from a memorable cup tie.
With the game effectively over after 35 minutes and a crucial trip to The Hawthorns just four days away, Coventry understandably shifted into energy-saving mode for the second half.
But that opportunist late double from Fabio Tavares supplemented Ellis Simms’s clinical hat-trick and rang up ‘The Old Five’ – always a morale-boosting milestone for Sky Blues supporters (for younger fans, ‘The Old Five’ was an often used headline due to the regularity of City scoring five goals in their rise up the divisions, first time around).
Former City favourite Clinton Morrison suggested it was a cruel scoreline, telling Radio Five listeners: “Maidstone do not deserve that as they have been better this second half.” But the match stats (possession 70-30 / shots 26-3 / on target 15-0) underline how, in contrast to a few glaringly sub-par cup performances in recent seasons, Mark Robins’s men made light of their hiding-to-nothing assignment with a thoroughly professional, admirably economical performance.
