Frank Lampard has admitted he felt Coventry City were deserving of their win over Bristol City despite insisting the Robins were “good opposition” at the CBS Arena.
Liam Manning’s Reds extended their winless run away from Ashton Gate to six matches on Saturday afternoon as they were beaten 1-0 by the Sky Blues in the West Midlands, with Brandon Thomas-Asante’s goal the difference between the two sides.
The Coventry forward broke the deadlock midway through the second half as he powered past Max O’Leary in the City net, having been slipped past Luke McNally by Jack Rudoni. The Robins came close to levelling things late on however, when Yu Hirakawa smashed an effort just past the post with the final kick of the game.
Although Manning felt his team had done enough to leave the CBS Arena with a point, Lampard believed his side’s showing was deserving of the win having shown character both in and out of possession throughout the 90 minutes.
“I’m pleased, it was a tough match,” Lampard explained post-match. “Not the perfect performance but good opposition and we deserved to win the game on chances overall in the game.
“Good character, good resilience, good effort to keep a clean sheet and see the game out. We created enough chances to score our goal and we scored one of our harder chances potentially which was a great goal so very, very pleased.”
Since Lampard replaced Mark Robins in the Sky Blues’ dugout, results have been mixed. However, Coventry’s form at home has been rather impressive and following Saturday’s win over Bristol City, they are unbeaten in all of the six games they have played at the CBS Arena under the management of the former Chelsea and England midfielder.
While they still have several talented players in their ranks such as Ellis Simms and Rudoni, they have recently been without star men Haji Wright and Ephron Mason-Clark. Injuries to that pair and other senior players have forced Lampard to change his system in the last few weeks and the 46-year-old felt the win over the Reds was a step in the right direction for his new-look side.
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“We’ve changed the system a bit, it helps us in ways but it’s probably more at the moment because of some of the players that we’ve got out,” explained the Coventry head coach. “It’s put us in a position, how can we maximise the shape and how can we be as effective as we can be?
“Combinations like Jay [Dasilva] and Rudi [Jack Rudoni] on that side of the pitch and the front three playing off each other. The feeling at half-time was probably, ok there’s some good stuff here but how can we be a bit cleaner in the final third of the pitch to make good moments into very good moments?
“There’s lots to improve, but there are some nice things that we’re seeing. The way we’re playing we have to maximise what’s the best thing we can get out of it. When you’ve got two strikers like Ellis and Brandon, can you get the best out of those, how good can they be at hold-up and link-up? It was certainly a step forward in lots of areas but there are many more steps to go I’d say.”