Bassette blows away Blues as Coventry City batter Midland rivals Birmingham 8-0
Norman Bassette blew away Birmingham City with four goals - including a hat-trick in the space of 14 blistering minutes - in an 8-0 battering by Coventry City's Under-21s at the CBS Arena.
The 19-year-old summer signing has been limited to three senior starts and one from the bench for the Sky Blues since his move from French side Caen as manager Mark Robins has held back the rapid centre-forward who was outstanding against Tottenham in the Carabao Cup last month.
The precocious teenager has been an unused sub in the last three Championship matches and on Tuesday night took a step back to get a run out with Coventry's development side.
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Defender Greg Sandiford started the rout with just three minutes on the clock when he forced home a Fabio Tavares' cross at the far post. Belgian Bassette then pounced a minute later in the 4th, when he pressed the Blues' defence into a mistake and made no mistake from close range.
The teenager then turned provider by feeding Tavares for the third of the night, with just 11 minutes gone, and then Bassette bullied his way through after City won possession from the restart and slotted home Coventry's fourth in the 12th minute.
Bassette was then fed inside the area and hit a thunderous shot into the top corner, completing his hat-trick to make it 5-0 on 18 minutes!
Midfielder Charlie Finney then hit Blues for six a minute before the half hour mark when he hit a cross that sneaked in at the far post. And Bassette bagged a fourth to make it 7-0 before the break when Tavares crossed and he slotted home on 44 minutes.
The star of the show was then replaced by Rylie Siddall early in the second half before Sandiford completed the humiliation with his second and Coventry's eighth on 54 minutes.