[Sven]

boavista beat coventry 2-1

The Sky Blues lose to Boavista in a game marred by the sending off of Gary McSheffrey.

City may now have one of their star players suspended for the start of the season, and with Robert Page and Wayne Andrews both going off with potential injuries, it was not a happy evening for Coventry.

With just over a week to go until the big Championship kick-off against Sunderland next Sunday Micky Adams named a strong side and the match got off to a positive start.

Stern John had City's first shot on goal in the second minute, forcing Panthers keeper William into action with a well struck volley from outside the area. The Sky Blues then put together a delightful move involving Stephen Hughes and Kevin Thornton which led to Gary McSheffrey firing just wide.

The Portuguese side were defending well but got forward in numbers and left-back Mario Silva had Marshall worried briefly with a thunderous 25-yarder which whistled inches wide.

In the 28th minute, the referee made a decision that you rarely see in pre-season friendly and one which could have a knock-on effect when the season begins, when he red carded Gary McSheffrey and Hugo Monteiro for their parts in a minor scuffle. The ruling left Micky Adams remonstrating with the fourth official for a long time as he will presumably lose last season's top scorer through suspension.

Under normal circumstances, the official would ask for the players involved to be substituted but Mr Walton deemed it to be severe enough to punish both players to the maximum.

The standard of football dipped after the incident with Boavista's Marcos Antonio missing the best chance of the half, as his free header was easily saved by Marshall.

Micky Adams made four changes at the interval with Jay Tabb replacing Adebola as City switched to one up front. Robert Page came on for Matt Heath, Colin Cameron for Stephen Hughes and Andy Morrell for Thornton.

With half an hour to go, more switches were made as Don Hutchison, Wayne Andrews, Andrew Whing and Claus Jorgensen entered the fray.

But there was a double blow for City in the 68th minute when a mistake by Whing led to a simple tap in for Roland Linz to open the scoring for the visitors, after which Page was replaced by Isaac Osbourne, presumably having picked up a knock.

However, it was only three minutes until the Sky Blues equalized with Andrews smashing a crisp right-footed shot into the bottom corner from 25 yards out to put a smile on City fans' faces.

The joy was shortlived as Linz grabbed his second of the game with 15 minutes on the clock to finish off a fine Boavista move and put them 2-1 ahead.

City's scorer Andrews was then stretchered off the pitch after going down awkwardly as the evening got progressively worse for the Sky Blues who were forced to play the final ten minutes with nine men.

But there was to be no equalizer after a disappointing 90 minutes. Let's hope our luck is better when the action starts for real.

Coventry (first half): Marshall (S.Ward 78); Hall; Ward (Whing 61); Hughes (Cameron 46); Doyle (Andrews 61); Adebola (Tabb 46); McSheffrey; John (Hutchison 61); Heath (Page 46 Osbourne 68); McNamee (Jorgensen 61); Thornton (Morrell 46). Subs:

Sent-off: McSheffrey (28)

Boavista: William; Bessa; Silva; Kazmierczak; Pereira; Antonio; Sousa; Silva; Rosario; Lucas; Monteiro. Subs: Faye; Cisse; Manuel; Fary; Grzelak; Dinis; Linz; Jehle; Marquinho; Essame

Sent-off: Monteiro (28)

Referee: Mr Walton

Attendance: 3,406

Sending off of mcsheffery was not happy. i just got bk form watching this was a few portugesse fans in the stadiumbut still dissapointed for coventry.