Football: Dublin's flair play

Coventry City 1 Dublin pen 74 Sheffield Wednesday 0 Attendance: 18,375

DION DUBLIN continues to perch happily at the top of his personal wheel of fortune. At the end of a week in which the 28-year-old striker was called up for the England squad and won the Carling Player of the Month award for January, it was his goal, naturally, that won the day for Coventry.

No wonder Gordon Strachan describes him as a man who can do no wrong. "His willingness to work and listen are a marvellous example for everyone in the game," Strachan said. Yet his future remains in doubt after the rejection of a lucrative new contract, but on the field he leads such a charmed life his supporters are practically begging for him to stay at Highfield Road.

Then again, if Coventry become prosperous on the back of Dublin's form, perhaps he will stay. Yesterday's 74th-minute penalty brought him his 15th goal of the season, but more significantly his seventh goal in six matches, a run during which his team has reached the fifth round of the FA Cup and climbed into mid-table in the Premiership.

They are ahead of Wednesday, who seldom looked like providing Ron Atkinson with a memorable return to a club he managed for 22 months and to whom Strachan owes the foundation for a managerial career that seems to hold considerable possibilities.

His defence is still accident-prone, even with Andy Hinchcliffe providing new strength on the left, and the balance brought to midfield by Niclas Alexandersson has gone now that injury has ruled out the Swede for the remainder of the season.

But if they mounted only rare threats, Coventry were not much better, offering only a shadow of the form that ripped through Bolton last weekend and which has brought startling results against Manchester United and Liverpool.

Before half-time, Dublin might have scored had Hinchcliffe not blocked his fierce volley, and half the stadium thought Paul Telfer had when a low drive crashed into the side-netting. Subsequently, a fourth consecutive goalless draw between these teams seemed a good bet until Dublin was brought down by Jon Newsome and then confidently stroked the penalty wide to Kevin Pressman's left.