Coventry target Stoke FA Cup scalp but ownership woes stymie revival hopes

Mark Robins is building an enterprising side who can give his former team-mate Mark Hughes a headache when Stoke visit but the Sky Blues’ off-field prospects remain gloomy

A visit to Coventry City’s training ground brings instant confrontation with a past that seems hazier than ever. In the reception area, an entire wall bears the faces of supporters at the 1987 FA Cup final, basking in the day Keith Houchen and company really did turn the football world sky blue. Taking the time to greet guests is another of that vintage, Steve Ogrizovic, these days the goalkeeping coach and still one of the first into work at the club he helped make famous.

It is a disarming scene and another will present itself when Coventry, third in League Two, face the Premier League strugglers Stoke City on Saturday in a third-round tie that has most of the required ingredients for an upset. Mark Hughes will play the part of embattled visiting manager; the Ricoh Arena will provide the pudding of a rugby-scarred playing surface; and there is a little more history to draw on, too. In the fifth round of that glorious run 31 years ago, when Coventry were top-flight stalwarts and their opponents were rooted in the second tier, Micky Gynn settled a gritty encounter at the Potters’ old Victoria Ground to set history firmly on its course.

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