‘Overwhelmed’ Coventry City boss Frank Lampard admits it’s all new to him as the fist pumps fly at Millwall
Coventry City match analysis from CoventryLive as Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner takes a look at some of the big talking points from a deserved win at The Den
Coventry City ended a five-game winless run with a gutsy, hard-fought victory in dreadful conditions at Millwall.
Heavy winds made several corners almost impossible to take due to the corner flag bending horizontally and the ball blowing away before it could be struck amid an often scrappy affair at The Den – particularly in the first half that was devoid of both quality and chances on goal from both sides.
But Ephron Mason-Clark finally found a way through with a fine far post finish from a Jack Rudoni centre to give the Sky Blues something to hold onto, and a lead that they refused to give up in a determined and hugely creditable defensive display. Here are some of the big talking points from Coventry’s fourth consecutive league win against the Lions.
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No mean feat
It’s no mean feat getting a win at Millwall this season, the south east London club going into this fixture looking to extend their impressive unbeaten run to ten games. It was a good time to catch Neil Harris’ men due to the fact that they had their two outstanding centre-halves, Japhet Tanganga and Jake Cooper, out through suspension and injury. The Lions had also only lost twice on home soil in the league this term and taken the scalps of Burnley and Leeds United in their recent sequence of four straight wins, book-ended by draws. For Coventry, it was only their second away win and, crucially, third clean sheet in 19 games in the division.
Back to basics
Although Frank Lampard and his coaches have only had just over a week to work with the players, they have been successful in getting across some of their fresh ideas – the biggest clearly being a back to basics approach to defending. The fact that City kept their first clean sheet for six matches, and only their third of the season tells its own story. Lampard was understandably disappointed with the lack of desire among the players to go that extra yard to compete and win second balls against Cardiff in his opening game. But against Millwall, everyone to a man was
throwing themselves into every challenge or ball to be won or cleared. The sight of Tatsuhiro Sakamoto launching himself at a diving headed clearance epitomised the collective spirit to see out the result and keep the rare shut-out. And that has to be the starting point for the rest of the season now; it has to have set the benchmark for more resilient defending from here on in.
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