Chris Coleman- Sky Blue Gaffer

On this day (16th August) in 2008 the Sky Blues were shaping up to play their third match of the season having picked up two wins out of two so far. In their Championship opener Chris Coleman's men had beaten Norwich City 2-0 at Highfield Road and followed it up midweek with a 3-1 demolition of Aldershot Town in the League Cup as the club celebrated its 125th Anniversary. Today Barnsley were City's opponents and they made it a win treble at Oakwell coming away with a 2-1 win from the Yorkshire club. It wasn't all plain sailing however!

Keiren with CCFC

To start with the Tykes nearly went ahead when Darren Moore's header needed to be saved by Sky Blues 'keeper Kieren Westwood. Then, on twelve minutes City's Freddy Eastwood produced a cross-shot to put the Sky Blues in front. Next, the Sky Blues' central defender Elliott Ward (now like Kieren and Freddy a CCFPA member) managed to hit the Barnsley post before the home team grabbed an equaliser a minute before the break with a clinical finish from Brian Howard.

Freddy in Sky Blue action

City weren't to be denied, however, and our wide man Julian Gray brought home the Sky Blues bacon by curling a left-foot shot into the corner of the Tykes' net after 68 minutes. The home team's day then went from bad to worse when Iain Hume picked up a second yellow card nine minutes from the end. Game set and match City! The around 1,250 members of the Sky Blue Army in the 12,987 crowd went home very happy as the Sky Blues topped the table early in the season!

Sky Blue Julian

Chris Coleman's CCFC lined up (CCFPA members underlined):-

Keiren Westwood, Guillaume Beuzelin, Elliott Ward, Scott Dann, Danny Fox, Jay Tabb, Aron Gunnarsson, Julian Gray (Leon McKenzie -79), Clinton Morrison (Robbie Simpson -85), Freddy Eastwood and Michael Mifsud (Michael Doyle -87).

Unused Subs: Ben Turner and Danny Ireland (gk)

Simon Davey's Barnsley team was as follows:-

Elliott in the Sky Blue

Luke Steele, Stephen Foster, Darren Moore, Dennis 'Guedes' Souza, Bobby Hassell (Kayode Odejayi -86), Gary Teale (Maceo Rigters -74), Diego 'Leon' Ayarza, Brian Howard, Martin Devaney, Iain Hume, Jon Macken. Unused Subs: Miguel Mostto, Rob Atkinson and Jacob Butterfield. Referee:- Steve Bratt (West Midlands).

The Tykes' goalkeeper Luke Steele, of course, went on to play for the Sky Blues 43 times in loan periods from initially Manchester United and then new club West Bromwich Albion between 2004-07. On the bench that day was also former Sky Blue Academy product Martin Devaney.

The Sky Blues failed to do the double over the Tykes this season and were only able to salvage a 1-1 draw at the Ricoh in April 2009 (leaving two matches left) thanks to an equalising goal from Elliott Ward four minutes into added on time at the end of the game. They did manage that feat the following season, again playing Barnsley at Oakwell in the second match of the 2009-10 season and won 2-0!

CCFC 2008-09

Fairly recent landlords of CCFC, Birmingham City fared well in the Championship being promoted to the Premier League as runners up seven points behind top dogs Wolverhampton Wanderers. Fifth placed Burnley also went up via the playoffs. The Sky Blues finished in an unimpressive seventeenth place, albeit six places and eight points above the drop.

The three relegated teams were Norwich City, Southampton and Charlton Athletic.

Thanks to CCFPA's Mike Young (& Dean Nelson) for sourcing the images. Share Post