Youths Lose To Sky Blues

A BELOW par Hammers crashed to a 2-0 defeat to Coventry City at Little Heath, a second-half brace from Sky Blues striker Vijay Sidhu giving the Group B leaders the win in this Inter Group fixture.

Blustery conditions at Little Heath made for a scrappy game. West Ham's only real chance of a first-half devoid of goal-mouth action came on 15 minutes when Kyel Reid's free-kick was met by the head of Moses Ashikodi, bringing a fine save out of Coventry goalkeeper Jonathan Tuffey.

The start of the second-half saw Coventry siezing the initiative, and the visitors took the lead on 55 minutes when a blocked shot broke for Sidhu in the box and he made no mistake, finishing coolly from close range.

Sidhu secured all three points for Coventry with a rasping low shot from just outside the area that beat the despairing dive of Tim Sandercombe in the West Ham goal.

Hammers best effort of the second-half came with just six minutes remaining when Lee Hales fired in a shot from Reid's corner that whistled just wide of Tuffey's left-hand post.

WHU: Sandercombe; Henry, Tomkins, Maguire, Andrews, Welsh (Shaw 72), Stokes, Cowley (Davidson 77), Reid, Ephraim, Ashikodi (Hales 81).

By Tony Fowles, Ironworks Gazette