A week of make or break?

Cast your minds back to March 2009. It was a Wednesday night and we had a home league match against Sheffield United. Everyone was buzzing, not only because we had chances of climbing the league table but we were three days away from playing Chelsea in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.

It was a massive week for the club and fans alike. In terms of the season it was make or break, win the league game and keep up our play-off chances, win the chelsea game and see the Sky Blues at the new Wembley for the first time.

What happened? Well we lost both games, heads went down and we had another average season.

Looking now at this weeks fixtures, it reminds me very much of a year ago. City's next two fixtures are against Cardiff and local rivals Leicester in the League. Win tonight (Tuesday) at Cardiff and there is a possibility of getting into the play-offs. A further win at the Crisp Bowl on Sunday and maintaining that position until the end of the season could become a reality.

Hoppers fight back to beat bottom side Waterloo

13/03/2010
Preston Grasshoppers - 20
Waterloo - 12

by Callum Wayness

Hoppers went into todays match against Waterloo expecting an easy encounter against a team who lie bottom of National 2 North. It was far from that however as Waterloo took the early advantage before a relieved Hoppers side sealed victory with a second half comeback.

After little inspiring action in the first 10 minutes, Waterloo needed to take their opportunities and they did in the 11th minute when they won a line out on Hoppers 22-metre. From the throw Waterloo's packs solid drive pushed Hoppers back to their five metre allowing their scrum half, Chris Banks to whip the ball along the back line and put in Alex Rees to touch down in the corner. The conversion was missed to put the score at 0-5.

A few minutes later Hoppers won a penalty after Waterloo failed to release the ball on the ground, after sharp thinking from Hoppers Tom Ball to take it quickly Waterloo were penalised for not being 10 metres. This gave Alex Zavallis-Roebuck the chance to have a shot at the posts and he stepped up and slotted it straight down the middle to put the first points on the board for the Hoppers.

On 25 minutes the big figure of Waterloo's number eight, Njike Tchakoute broke from the half-way line and with a couple of hand-offs managed to gain 30 metres before spilling the ball forward. However from the resulting scrum Waterloo were awarded a penalty for binding infringements. The penalty was kicked to the corner and the strong line out worked again as the catch and drive pushed Waterloo's Ryan Mckie over to score their second try of the match. The conversion was knocked over by Adam Anderson taking the score to 3-12.

Almost directly from the kick off Hoppers were again awarded a penalty which Roebuck kicked perfectly and this was to inspire a Hoppers comeback as 10 minutes later Roebuck stroked another through the posts from 22 metres out to take the score at half time to 9-12.

Hoppers started the second half as they had finished the first, camped in the opposition's 22. After 10 minutes Waterloo's discipline finally cracked as a penalty was awarded against them for offside and Roebuck in fine form took the three points to level the scores up.

Hoppers maintained their pressure for another 15 minutes, however nothing came from this considerable onslaught.

Hoppers then shot themselves in the foot as they were reduced to 14 men after Anthony Harvey was sin-binned for an alleged dangerous tackle on a Waterloo player. This looked like a lifeline for Waterloo, who had struggled through the second half. However two minutes later the sides were even in numbers as Waterloo's Njike Tchakoute was sent to the bin for exactly the same offence.

The altercations seemed to go in favour of the home side as Waterloo's indiscipline gave Hoppers another penalty which Roebuck again scored to put the score at 15-12.

The nail in the coffin came for Waterloo in the 79th minute when prop John Nuttall saw red for a terrible stamp on a Hoppers player. From the resulting penalty, Hoppers broke out of their half and when the ball landed in the hands of centre Phil Whyte there was no stopping him as he broke through two tackles and touched down to make the full time score a more respectable 20-12.

What a scoreline, 1-0...again!

Coventry City recorded their 13th victory of the season yesterday (Saturday) with a 1-0 victory away to Peterborough and they are becoming familiar with these tight winning margins.

Out of 13 wins this season, Coventry have six 1-0's to their name and a further five matches have been won by a single goal. While many would say a win is a win, City have also taken a few heavy defeats and this puts the Sky Blues 8th in the Championship table with a goal difference of minus six. With the teams around them all in positive figures what does this mean for City?

If Coventry are to have a late push for the play-offs this season, it's looking more than likely that there is only going to be only one spot to fight for.

You might say, whats all the fuss about goal difference? but if you look at the table from the past two years, the desired 6th place spot has been decided on goal difference (Preston - 08/09, Watford - 07/08).

This does not bode well for Coventry as they only have 11 games left to increase their goal tally and unless they get a couple of 3-0's under their belt it is unlikely they would beat any of their neighbours on goal difference come the end of the season.

Coventry now need to focus on edging out these close victories as we know how vulnerable City are in the dying minutes. If they can pick up these one or two extra points (and not hand them to the opposition on a plate) come the end of the season, IF they're still challenging, they may not need the goals.

Late push or same old, same old..

With the business end of the season approaching Coventry City find themselves in a very familiar position, mid-table of the Championship.

However, things are looking up for the Sky Blues as they have found some form at the right time, something which can't often be said. They also have a Chairman in Ray Ranson who has kept his faith with Manager Chris Coleman through sticky patches and this seems to be paying off. The whole set-up at the club looks much improved and vitally they are debt free, which stops any backroom problems.

Ray Ranson has admitted he has long term plans in place, which will bring a smile to the majority of City supporters as they have seen how awful the attempt at Operation Premiership went. These plans have been put in place to build and establish a squad good enough to compete at the top level. I think most fans would admit now that although how amazing it would be to see the true sky blue colours back in the Premier League, maybe it's a few seasons too early.

Coventry City may run close to grabbing a late play-off spot this season, however if they establish a quality side at this level in the next couple of years, they will have a much better opportunity at reaping the rewards when eventually their time comes to face the big guns.

It's your time to shine.

Every summer thousands of new graduates from across the country begin the daunting task of finding a job in the real working world. Journalism graduates seem to have a harder time than most in finding employment.

Over the past couple of years many jobs have disappeared in all lines of work due to the recession as companies cut back on costs by cutting back on jobs. Journalistic jobs have also seen a decrease as newspapers are slowly becoming a thing of the past. However newspaper’s online websites are a growing thing – surely this means an increase in jobs for new journalists? Well the answer is most likely yes, but however we like to look at it, newspapers need experienced and trained personnel in their ranks. This means a limit to the jobs available for up and coming journalists.

Fortunately it is not all doom and gloom for future graduates. The BBC’s move to the north-west, Salford Quays in 2011 will provide much needed job opportunities for those looking to get on the job ladder. Surely fresh faces for a new location will be ideal for the BBC to grow even further and enhance their reputation. Another huge opportunity for new graduates will come around in 2012, with the Olympics coming to London. The event will be an amazing chance to get some vital experience and make contacts that are fundamental in this line of work. Plus what better way to begin your career by being at the heart of the biggest event in the world.

Finding a job doesn’t have to be as daunting as first thought. It’s just building bridges that takes time and with the opportunities to build those bridges ahead, there’s no better time to be beginning your life as a journalist.