"I told them that if they were the better team, they'd break the hoodoo."When the final 20 minutes arrived with the scores level, evidence for the existence of a jinx was mounting. An eight-match unbeaten run preceded the home defeat to Southampton nine days ago, giving rise to renewed belief that Anfield could provide a genuine title challenge Now the doubts are back. MORE headlines for Michael Owen, but more question marks against Liverpool, whose pursuit of Manchester United in the Premiership is again faltering. Coventry had supposedly been destined not to win at Villa Park ever since the team bus crashed on its way to the clubs' first meeting there in 1936.
After finally seeing the biter bit by his new striker from Transylvania, Viorel Moldovan, Strachan revealed how he had invoked the so-called curse for his own ends. "I said to the players at half-time: 'You can either create a piece of history or be another statistic'," the Coventry manager said. .THE PREMIERSHIP'SLEADING SCORERSAndy Cole 21(Manchester United)John Hartson 19(West Ham)Kevin Gallacher 17(Blackburn)Michael Owen 17(Liverpool)Dion Dublin 16(Coventry)Chris Sutton 16(Blackburn). and BAD BOYSTHE SEASON'S RED AND YELLOW CARDSLeeds United 54 3Coventry 51 5Arsenal 53 2Derby County 54 1Bolton 48 4. FATE, Oscar Wilde pronounced, is just another word for failure. Coventry's achievement in beating Aston Villa away at the 27th attempt, and reaching the FA Cup quarter-finals in the process, owed much to the fact that Gordon Strachan shares the great dandy's disdain for defeatist thinking. The free-kick that led to the goal, Francis thought, might not have been awarded and Hasselbaink had definitely fouled Jon McCarthy to get his head to the ball. But what was the point - Birmingham were out."All credit to Hasselbaink," he said.
"He used a little bit of Continental gamesmanship to first punch McCarthy in the face and then stamp on his toe to get the yard he needed. It's all part of the game, a lot goes on in a penalty box during the course of 90 minutes."Francis recalled it had also been a dead-ball kick that had cost Wednesday the final in 1993 "It was a corner that undid us then. A lot of football has been played since Andy Linighan won the FA Cup for Graham's Arsenal against Francis' Sheffield Wednesday in the last minute of extra time five years ago, but both managers referred to it. It was difficult not to under the circumstances. First Division Birmingham had recovered from 2-0 down and had Leeds desperate for the final whistle when Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink got the winner with four minutes remaining. TREVOR FRANCIS tried hard to strike the attitude of the aggrieved manager, but it was half-hearted.
