Frank Lampard hails Coventry’s ‘spirit and determination’ in win at Bristol City

Frank Lampard praised the “spirit and determination” of his players after Coventry strengthened their position at the top of the Sky Bet Championship with a hard-fought 2-0 win at Bristol City.

Tatsuhiro Sakamoto headed the Sky Blues in front in the 37th minute from Jay Dasilva’s cross and Haji Wright doubled the advantage with a low drive in first half stoppage time.

Both sides finished with 10 men at Ashton Gate, Coventry’s Joel Latibeaudiere receiving a straight red card for pulling back Emil Riis as he threatened to break clear in the 43rd minute before the home side’s Adam Randell was shown a second yellow for a high 56th-minute challenge on Josh Eccles.

Coventry goalkeeper Carl Rushworth capped an impressive display with a stunning late save from Scott Twine but Lampard enjoyed the gritty manner of victory over fully committed opponents.

“The circumstances of the game meant we had to dig in to get the result from a tricky game ,” he said. “The spirit and determination shown by the team was exactly what we needed.

“We respect the way Bristol City play and they played with two strikers to cause us problems on transitions. We had to be strong defensively, especially after going down to 10 men at a time when we were just getting some control.

“The referee was probably right with the sending-off and I have no qualms over it. There was a bit of reshuffling to do after it happened but I thought we started the second half strongly.

“When it became 10-a-side we had the comfort of a two-goal lead and didn’t need to change anything. The character shown by the group of players was brilliant.

“Carl Rushworth has the ability to go to the very top as a player. He made a big save late on and dealt well with a number of efforts that could have squirmed away from him.

“His levels of performance for us have been fantastic. Our fans love him and he is a very high talent goalkeeper.”

Home boss Gerhard Struber called for supporters to get behind his players at the end of a week that saw them crash out of the FA Cup at Port Vale and then see their dwindling play-off hopes suffer another blow.

He said: “Every player deserves a push in the right direction from supporters. Frustration is understandable, but is not a helpful feeling when it comes to moving forward.

“There was a good reaction from the FA Cup defeat, but at the moment we are doing a lot right in games, only to suffer in the big moments at both ends of the pitch.

“We need to be super-critical of ourselves because we are conceding cheap goals and failing to make the most of our chances. With this happening, we cannot talk about the play-offs.

“We play nice football, but we have to be honest in our dressing room and admit that we are not clear or sharp enough in our decision-making. We break teams down as we plan to do, but then are not in the right positions to score.

“If we had retained a man advantage, we might have made the most of it in the closing stages as they tired. But the referee was right over Adam Randell’s second yellow card, so it wasn’t to be.”