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Coventry City’s FA Youth Cup third round tie with Leicester will take place at Highfield Road Stadium on Tuesday December 3, kick off 7.00pm.

Admission prices are £3 for adults and £1 for children and senior citizens so come along and cheer our boys on as they try to get revenge for the senior side's recent league defeat and emulate the Academy team's appearance in the final in 1999 and 2000.

There are no replays in the FA Youth Cup so if necessary there will be extra time and penalties.

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Lee Mills is convinced he and Craig Hignett can spark up a formidable strike partnership to bolster Coventry City’s attack.

Goal shy Sky Blues are desperate for their forwards to start hitting the back of the net and the big target man thinks they could be a winning combination.

“We are both experienced players and the more you play together the better the understanding you can build, but it looks as if we have forged a good understanding already,” said Mills who was encouraged by their early showing at Turf Moor on Saturday.

“It is just a shame Craig was sent off before we had time to develop it a bit further against Burnley.

“It was very disappointing because we started very brightly again. Craig had a couple of shots, one which flashed across the face of goal and another where the keeper made a great save, so we could have been 2-0 up but found ourselves 2-0 down. Then Craig got sent off which made it very difficult for us.”

But Mills is loathe to criticise his new strike partner, who he feels was the victim of over officious refereeing.

“Personally it is disappointing to see Craig get sent off but it could have happened to anyone,” he said. I swear on the pitch and all it takes is one referee to take exception to it and that’s it, you’re off.

“Craig just said he mentioned something to one of their players and the linesman took exception to it and thought he was talking to him and sent him off. It seems you can’t say anything these days but I am sure he won’t be doing it again just in case, so you live and learn.

“But I do have sympathy for Craig because I have had conversations with referees and they have sworn and said things back at me, so it can’t be just one way. If you say something to them they take offence and that’s it - you’re off the pitch.”

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Sky Blues’ striker Julian Joachim will be having an exploratory operation on his injured ankle later this month to ascertain the cause of the pain.

Joachim returned to action against Rotherham after 11 weeks out only to declare himself unfit for the Worthington Cup match against Crystal Palace when his heel started hurting again.

Macca revealed that Joachim had suffered a recurrence of the injury after a bout of injections had failed to clear things up.

The forward will visit specialists next Wednesday for the operation, which will hopefully give the player and City’s coaching staff a better idea of when Joachim can expect to be back to fitness.

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Gary McAllister is reported to be interested in Middlesbrough's out of favour front man Dean Windass to add further punch to his attack.

The 33-year-old is due to play for Boro's reserves at Aston Villa tonight (Tuesday) when he will have a chance to impress the City boss before any loan deal is agreed.

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Craig Hignett has claimed he was “shocked and stunned” by referee Mike Jones’ decision to show him the red card at the weekend for an “offensive gesture to the linesman”.

“The sending off was a joke,” said the Sky Blues’ loan star.

“The referee didn’t have a clue what I had done. I did make a gesture but it was to one of their players who said equally offensive things to me, so what the referee was doing, I don’t know!

“It happens in every single game and if the ref wanted to carry on in the same vein he would have sent 16 players off because everyone swears at each other in a game and what I did was no different to that.

“These days the officials spoil games by seeing what they think they see without even asking why?

“He didn’t go to the linesman, and if I had done it then the linesman would have surely flagged.

“I was shocked and stunned, and couldn’t even believe that he was going to book me, which was my first thought when he called me over.

“I told him he didn’t even know what I had done and I am sure none of the fans will be writing in to say I did an offensive gesture because no one saw it apart from the person who was meant to see it.

“The end result is that I will miss two games because of what I consider inept refereeing. If I had done it to the linesman then fair enough, but things between players is different.”

He added: “The manager has been good about it and knows the full story, and has told me just to get on with it. The decision won’t motivate me any more than I already am because I am desperate to do well here.”

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Craig Hignett may soon have to sit out a couple of games following his sending-off last weekend against Burnley but he has been impressed by a lot of the things he has seen at the Sky Blues so far.

The much-travelled striker has come from a Premiership club and while he admits there are noticeable differences, he has been extremely impressed by certain personnel.

'The set-up is a bit different because Blackburn have thrown fortunes at their training facilities and they are state-of-the-art. The best thing down here though is the training itself. It’s really enjoyable and sharp and is totally different for me.

'The coaches are fantastic and I’d never bumped into Eric Black on my travels, so it’s the first time I’ve worked with him and his training is very, very good and obviously the gaffer knows what he’s doing.'

Hignett is renowned for his ability to play just behind the forwards but he says he is equally comfortable in attack and has already spotted a potential strike partner in Lee Mills.

'I enjoy dropping in and getting the ball off the defenders a little bit further back but I do enjoy playing up front because you do get your fair share of chances. The keeper made two decent saves against Burnley and did very well.

'Lee’s easy to play with because he’s a big target man and I thrive off somebody who can get hold of the ball and give me a little bit of time to get up with him if I’ve been back in midfield trying to get the ball.'

The forward is extremely disappointed with his sending-off, firstly because of the suspension but also because he thought he could open his City account against the Clarets.

He is still hoping to be the answer to City’s goalscoring problems, starting this Saturday against Wolves.

'I’m desperate to help the gaffer, the club and myself at the same time by helping Coventry into at least a play-off place. The way the lads knock the ball about is brilliant but they probably just miss a little cutting edge. I was hoping to come in and obviously score a few goals and help with the overall play so I’m desperately disappointed to miss two games.

'Getting into the pace of things has been a little bit difficult but certainly last Saturday I felt a lot better and I fancied my chances of getting at least a couple because they weren’t the best at the back.

'I’m looking forward to every game now and Wolves are always a good team to play against so I think it will be a really good match. It’ll be a difficult game but we’ve got the players here capable of knocking the ball about and we just need to score some goals at the same time.'

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Aston Villa boss Graham Taylor has dismissed suggestions that he turned down a bid from Coventry to re-sign Dion Dublin on loan.
The Sky Blues claimed last week that they had made an unsuccessful bid to sign Dublin on a temporary basis but Taylor has insisted there has been no approach for Dublin, while he has also made it clear that the player is very much part of his plans at Villa Park.
Player-manager Gary McAllister had been keen to bring Dublin back to Highfield Road, where he spent four years before joining Villa in 1998, and a Sky Blues spokesperson said: "Dion is one of a number of players that we have made enquires about with no success.''
Taylor has hit out at those suggestions, though, saying: "He is in the team and operating as very much part of the squad. I am happy with that. He is happy with that. If that changes I am sure I would try to find him another club. Coventry did not come in for him on loan so far as I am concerned."

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Lee Mills is urging the Highfield Road faithful to roar the Sky Blues to victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers.

With attendances down to just over 13,000 for City’s last home game with Rotherham, the striker is hoping Saturday’s opponents will help bump up the crowd.

“It is a big game against Wolves - a West Midlands derby and one of my old clubs so I would definitely like to get one over on them and hopefully get us back up the table,” said the City striker who hopes to break his eight game barren spell in from of goal.

“They had a little sticky patch at the start of the season when things didn’t maybe click into place and maybe that was a hang over from the end of last season when they tailed off a bit, but they looked to have got it together again.

“Paul Ince and Denis Irwin are two fantastic players but maybe they have taken time to adjust to this league and find their feet but I am sure they are contributing to the fact that the team are playing so well at the moment.

“We are at home and if the crowd get behind us and roar us on, we have got every chance of beating them.

“I have fantastic memories of my time at Molineux. They were the club that gave me my chance in football so I will always be grateful to them.

“While I was there I had the privilege of playing under Graham Taylor who I thought was a fantastic coach who taught me everything about the game. I was young and a bit naive and he showed me the way and I will always be grateful to him as well.

“They had Steve Bull and Andy Mutch up front to start with so I had a job to muscle in between those two, but other players like Robbie Dennis and Paul Birch have left football now which is a pity, but they have all had good careers.

“I learned a lot from Bully. He is a quiet bloke but very single minded and all he ever wanted was to score goals for Wolves and get them promoted which unfortunately never happened.

“If you look at his goalscoring record it is fantastic and if I could do half as well as that I would be very pleased with myself.”

• MIDDLESBROUGH’S Dean Windass has joined Sheffield United on loan, ending speculation that he was heading for Highfield Road.

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Taken from a CCFC forum :

Andreas Dahl - about to be sold for coffee money?
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Read on the guestbook for Helsingborgs IF about Andreas Dahl. Dahl was bought to Coventry as only 16 year old for 0.5M. He could not cope with the social life and Coventry therefore agreed a loan deal with Helsingborgs IF (Roland Nilsson's former Swedish club). He has played with them this season and had problem to take a regular spot. But that is not bad anyway because Helsingborg has a really good midfield.

Now I read that Coventry is close to agree a deal for 0.1M. So even if Dahl has continued his developments in a very positive way he might now be sold for a very small sum.

I understand that Dahl had a problem with the social life in Coventry but should the club give him away for only that reason? I suspect that Dahl already is almost as good as Eustace. He could be used as a squad player for city in the defensive midfield and he must be on a really low salary. So I suspect that Coventry are about to make a very big mistake this time. Why not bring him back to England and use him in first division instead?

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City Reserves Barclaycard FA Reserve League (South) game at Ipswich Town due to have been played tonight (13/11/2002) has been postponed due to Ipswich's involvement in the UEFA Cup. The game has been rearranged for Wednesday December 4 at Portman Road with a 7pm kick-off.