'Rabbit in the headlights' Frankie Bunn, and a man who admits to knowing nothing about football, John Harbin, took charge for the cup game that some had hoped would put our season back on track. Oh dear.

WBA were woefully off form, yet they didn't need to get out of second gear to inflict an embarrassing record home defeat at the Arena in front of the biggest crowd seen there so far. And to many of the goals were gifts....

Goal 1: How embarrassing! Our defence seemingly don't know you can't be offside from a throw-in, and allowed a player to stand six yards past our last defender, and send in an unopposed cross for the virtually unopposed Brunt to head home.

Goal 2: Even more embarrassing! An absolute howler of an attempted pass from Marshall to De Zeeuw allowed Bednar the simplest of goals, with the Coventry defence nowhere to be seen.

Goal 3: A slightly harsh penalty decision against De Zeeuw, which would always be given when you're having 'one of those days', but at least it stopped any pathetic talk of a possible comeback in a match we hadn't a hope in hell of winning (This goal saw supporters flood towards the exits).

Goals 4 and 5: I confess, I didn't see them! But in the time it took me to walk from the ground to my car in Car Park C, and start the engine, Miller, who had just strolled onto the pitch as a substitute, made it 4-0 (Thanks to De Zeeuw not bothering to challenge), while Gera simply walked through what could loosely be termed a 'defence' to finish off the scoring (Thanks, in part, to awful errors from Hughes and Ward).

Coventry weren't helped by the sending off of Doyle, for an absolutely nothing challenge. Gera's girlie scream probably helped the referee decide a foul was committed, though TV replays show Doyle didn't even go close to the area Gera was clutching. The confusing thing for me was that Doyle normally argues with match officials over every decision that goes against him (And even argues about some that go for him!), but this time he simply walked, without questioning why....

In two games at the Arena versus Coventry City this season, WBA have chalked up nine goals, without conceding. No team with dreams/ambitions of staying in the Championship should be seemingly this far adrift in terms of quality as any of their opponents. The truth is, WBA are not much better than us, they are just far more professional, and seem to take pride in wearing the WBA colours.

To round off a poor day, where the highlight was hearing Coventry name-dropped in The Sweeney, the Ceefax headline for a good few hours read: 'COVENTRY CRUSH WEST BROM IN CUP'.

Ray Ranson copped most of the flak for this defeat, for sacking the manager days before what some saw as the most important match of the season (To me, the most important match is the next Championship game). The reality is, with a side so lacking in any of the necessary qualities to compete with most opponents, he probably wouldn't have fared any better....

Team: Marshall, Osbourne, Hall, De Zeeuw (Birchall 75), Ward, Mifsud, Doyle (SO 48), Tabb, M.Hughes, Simpson (Thornton 75), Best. SNU: Konstantopolus, Borrowdale, Gray.  

I guess if we could have chosen to win one game from our last four fixtures, it would have been against Leicester. And in Chris Coleman's first game in charge, that's exactly what happened.

Due to the harsh sending off versus WBA, Doyle was missing from the midfield for this match, and within a minute of the kick-off, Stephen Hughes was being stretchered off (Thanks to taking a Marcus Hall clearance to the head!). Whether or not this helped us to victory is open to question, but his replacement, Thornton, certainly gave a display more lively than we're used to seeing.

Hall was selected to play in the centre of defence, rather than the newly signed Dann, though there was a re-call for Dann's former Walsall team-mate Fox. And it was a quality long-pass from the left-back that saw Best chase a pass that resulted in a penalty for the home side. Said penalty was duly despatched by Ward, as the Leicester supporting section of the ground fell silent.

Holloway, as per normal, moaned about the decision (When doesn't he?), but TV replays showed a good spot by the referee (And 'm sure I would still hold this opinion if the decision had gone against us....).

There were first half bookings for Thornton and Best, with some thinking the former was lucky to stay on the pitch for his challenge (Though I thought it was very firm, but fair).

The first 10 minutes of the second half saw Leicester fairly much in control, but they're not at the wrong end of the table for nothing, so for all their possession, they created little.

Leicester were offered at least one absolute gift, after a seemingly compulsory defensive howler from Coventry, but spurned one of those 'it was far easier to score' efforts.

Quality work from Thornton saw Best wrap up the points for the homes side, despite Alnwick claiming he was offside (He obviously didn't see the defender standing right next to him). Cue delirious scenes in the home sections of the ground.

Marshall made two top drawer saves to help keep a clean sheet, as Leicester chose injury time at the end of the second half to show any sort of fight.

Team: Marshall, Osbourne, Fox, Ward, Hall, Mifsud, Tabb, S. Hughes (Thornton 1), M.Hughes, Gray (Andrews 86), Best (Simpson 83). SNU: Konstantopolous, Dann.

[Apologies for the shortness of the Leicester report, but once again I was left reading scratches in a note pad as yet another pen ran out....]

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