Tony Mowbray had to endure a second defeat in a week as he made his home bow as manager of Coventry City.
A 3-2 defeat from Port Vale leaves Coventry a point ahead of the relegation zone and the drop into the bottom tier of English football. In midweek Coventry had lost 1-0 at Barnsley .
Despite building his own playing career as a rugged defender Mowbray’s side’s have never been known for their defensive ability with yesterday’s defeat coming in painful fashion for the home support.
Former Celt Jim O’Brien opened the scoring for Coventry in the fourth minute but the visitors replied with goals from George Pope and Mark Marshall to take the lead at half time.
Substitute Sanmi Odelusi equalised with 20 minutes left to play but Michael O’Connor won the points for the visitors with a free kick six minutes later.
“We’re a pretty young team, pretty naive at times,” Mowbray said afterwards. “When it got back to two all, I thought only one team was going to win it, but unfortunately it didn’t work out that way.
“It’s a work in progress for me, really, and we have to find a way to win. I couldn’t fault the players’ endeavour and determination, but it’s obviously frustrating because we need points.”
Mowbray refused to compromise his attacking beliefs, often at the expense of basic defending, during his Celtic days but is ready to take a more pragmatic approach to Coventry’s survival battle.
He added: “The problem is, as I think Steven (previous manager, Pressley) would have found, is that if you’re trying to protect a young back four you take away some of the threat at the other end of the pitch. That’s the balance we have to find.
“We scored two decent goals but we need points and we have to find a way to win. If we have to go even more basic to cut out those mistakes and try to get clear sheets then that’s what we might have to do. If we have to become more defensive and forgo some of the attacking play then so be it.”