I feel disillusioned after defeat to Coventry’s 10 men

THE dictionary description of ‘disillusioned’ is ‘disappointed in someone or something that one discovers to be less good than one had believed’. That just about sums up how I feel.

I still cannot believe we lost 3-2 to a team playing with 10 men for the whole of the second half. We were out-thought, outfought, and outplayed by Coventry, who deservedly won the game for their bravery, desire, and quality. We lost that second half 3-1. With a man less, the Sky Blues had 54 per cent possession, nine shots to our five, had 230 passes to our 201 and four corners to our one.

Before I get into it, I just want to pass on my best wishes to Nigel Pearson, who is unwell at the moment and missed the game away at The Coventry Building Society Arena. Get well soon Nige.

On to the game, I met a Cov mate, Rich, before the game and said to him I really wasn’t expecting too much and felt that we could be on the end of a hammering, especially after our gutless second-half showing at Birmingham City.

Once again, there was large travelling contingent with 3,000 fans making the journey to Coventry. Despite our recent poor run of form, the fans were in good voice.

Despite Coventry having the better of the first half, I thought the Robins had done okay and against 10 men, I thought we could go on and expose the space and I was confident of a win. What a fool!

Mark Robins never allowed his team to let their heads drop and they stuck with their attacking intent. Never once did they settle for a point.

Just after the hour, City opted to take off Alex Scott, which I understood due to his booking but his replacement in Jay Dasilva was a surprise. We needed to be better on the ball and force Coventry back and I would have gone for a more like for like change in Palmer or Benarous.

I just don’t know what we are at the moment. We have no confidence and no style of play. We chop and change players each week and just cannot do the basic things right.

I like Nige and desperately want him to succeed but with the forthcoming accounts likely to make grim reading, just how much would he be able to spend in January to get in quality players, and if we can’t, can he get enough out of what he has?