Accrington Stanley

More top class sport for me today after the wonderful Olympic Games over the last week. Football re-emerges from Summer. I went to see Coventry City, the team I have supported for 50 years, in a pre-season friendly at Accrington Stanley. City won 4-1, a considerable improvement on the last few games. This blip shows Cody McDonald, who scored two of our goals, turning a defender.

A few other shots of today can be seen here, including a close-up of City legend Steve Ogrizowicz, now the goalkeeping coach.

The sadness of last season's relegation to League 1, the first time we have been so low in the leagues since 1963/4, will be tempered for me by the opportunity to visit lots of grounds I havent been to before. Accrington was a wonderfully friendly place. There was no fan segregation. This resulted in another first for me: two elderly Stanley fans sitting behind us gave us two cups of coffee from their flask. As my son Tom said, now that wouldn't happen at Old Trafford.