Big match reaction

Chris Coleman had nothing but praise for his Coventry City side after a top-class display saw off promotion chasing Birmingham City on Saturday.

‘I thought we deserved it today,’ he purred.

‘We created a lot of chances and could have won by more.

‘Birmingham did have their moments but overall I thought we deserved the three points so I am delighted.

‘There was a lot of enthusiasm in our performance and, to a man, I thought we were magnificent.’

The resurgent Sky Blues are now 8 points off the play-offs although Coleman warned: ‘As for promotion, our aim is to finish in the top half.’

Visiting boss Alex McLeish refused to blame the officials after they ruled out a second-half equaliser.

‘The start cost us the game, not the referee or the linesman,’ he admitted.

‘In the first minute, you want an inspirational tackle or header to get everybody going but that never happened. Instead, we didn’t deal with a long ball and they forced a corner.

‘We didn’t learn our lesson because they score from the set-piece so it was fairly soft from our point of view.

‘That made us nervous and, although there was fight in the second half, there was a lack of quality.’