Ayari and Sima strike to see off Coventry

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Albion beat Coventry in a behind closed doors friendly at the American Express Elite Football Performance Centre.

Charlie Hanson

2025-07-26T16:45+01:00

Yasin Ayari put Albion in front midway through the first half. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

Albion made it four wins from four pre-season friendlies as they beat Coventry City 2-0 in Lancing on Saturday afternoon.

Wins over Wycombe Wanderers, Stoke City and Las Palmas have seen Albion build up some decent momentum heading into the new season, and goals from former Cov loanee Yasin Ayari and Abdallah Sima ensured that Albion continued in that vein.

Matt O’Riley had the ball in the back of the net in the opening minutes after Kaoru Mitoma’s strike was palmed back into the six-yard box by Ben Wilson, but the Danish midfielder was offside when he poked in the follow up.

Matt O'Riley thought he'd given Albion an early lead. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

The pairing of O’Riley and Ayari – who had combined for the opener against Las Palmas on Monday – once again proved fruitful when we took the lead after 23 minutes. The former MK Dons and Celtic man crossed to the back-stick for Ayari to nod in from close against his ex-team, having made 13 appearances for them in the first half of the 2022/23 season.

Georginio then had a goal-bound effort headed away by Matt Grimes before Brandon Thomas-Asante dragged wide from the edge of the Albion box.

After the break, O'Riley prodded the wrong side of the post with an effort on the spin from 12 yards, before a Sky Blues penalty shout for handball was waved away, when Ellis Simms' strike hit Jan Paul van Hecke at close quarters.

Ferdi Kadioglu made his first appearance since November 2024. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

Jason Steele's most difficult save was from Viktor Torp's header, but the keeper excellently kept hold of the ball at full stretch.

A raft of changes notably saw Ferdi Kadioglu come on for his first appearance since the 2-1 defeat at Liverpool in November last year, although it was Abdallah Sima who would put the result beyond doubt.

Andrew Moran got down the right of the Coventry box and had his cross cut out by keeper Brad Collins, but the loose ball fell for Sima to poke in from close to make it 2-0 with 12 minutes to go.

Fabian Hurzeler's team have won all of their friendlies so far this pre-season. 📸 by Paul Hazlewood.

Albion supporters will be able to enjoy some pre-season action live for the first time next week when Fabian Hurzeler's team head to St Mary's to face Southampton.

First half XI: Steele, Wieffer, Dunk, van Hecke, De Cuyper, Ayari, Hinshelwood, Gruda, O’Riley, Mitoma, Georginio.

Substitutions:

46' Diego Gomez for Kaoru Mitoma, James Milner for Yasin Ayari

63' Ferdi Kadioglu for Maxim De Cuyper, Freddie Simmonds for Lewis Dunk, Diego Coppola for Jan Paul van Hecke, Joel Veltman for Mats Wieffer, Malick Yalcouye for Jack Hinshelwood, Nehemiah Oriola for Brajan Gruda, Jeremy Sarmiento for Matt O'Riley, Abdallah Sima for Georginio, Andrew Moran for Diego Gomez.