On a windy and wet evening at the Ricoh Arena a decent crowd of 11,468 turned up to watch hopefully a full-blooded  League One match and that’s what we got as both sides got stuck.

The Sky Blues knocked the ball about well, but the visitors defended resolutely and were a threat on the break.

Burton took the lead on 19 minutes when they took advantage of poor play by Bayliss after the young midfielder lost possession, and a quick counter-attack by the Brewers ended with Akins slotting home to make it 1-0.

Burton are a decent League One side and I was impressed with their style of play, they are a physical team but like Coventry City can knock the ball about well.

But I have to comment on the referee who I thought was poor, Neil Hair let niggly tackles by Burton go, but when we did the same he blew up. All we ask for is consistency and fairness but the standard of refereeing in this division leaves a lot to be desired in my opinion.

The second half saw the incompetent Neil Hair replaced by one of his assistants as he injured himself, but his replacement was just as bad and looked out of his depth with some strange decisions. But in the 51st minute, the City deservedly drew level with a goal by Tom Bayliss.

I thought that would see us go on and get a winner as the Sky Blues were pressing forward well, but instead, we were down to ten men as Enobakhare got sent off for two yellow cards. But the stand in ref was surrounded by a group of Burton players who were demanding a red card be shown, and he duly obliged! It’s an annoying side of modern football when players try and get an opponent sent off, that should be down to the ref and not them.

And it got worse for the home side when goalkeeper  Lee Burge handed Burton a goal on a plate when instead of clearing a back pass to safety, he passed it straight to Jamie Allen who smashed it in the back of the net to make it 2-1.

That was on the hour and although the Sky Blues pressed hard for an equaliser Burton defended solidly and continued to be a danger on the break.

So with more odd refereeing and Burge getting booed every time he touched the ball, the final whistle went. So our play-off aspirations took a knock and it looks like we have to accept that it will be League One football again next season. But hang on there, who knows what the powers that be have in mind for our football club? We could be homeless and playing matches against pub teams!

No wonder we all headed back to the pub to numb our senses with pints of lager, and talk of days of Highfield Road and when we won the FA Cup.

Still best to keep positive and all will work out for the best, won’t it?

words Kevin Halls, lifelong Coventry City supporter