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Soccer
Frank Lampard explains Coventry’s latest setback as slump continues
Coventry manager Frank Lampard branded his side’s 0-0 draw with 10-man Oxford “one of those days” as the slumping Championship leaders failed to beat the relegation-threatened U’s.
Lampard’s side were up against 10 men for the final 13 minutes plus stoppage time after Will Lankshear saw red for Oxford 20 minutes after coming off the bench as a substitute.
Romain Esse saw an effort cleared off the line while Haji Wright lashed an effort into the side netting late on, but the Sky Blues’ winless run reached three games and leaves them vulnerable to being knocked off top spot by Middlesbrough on Monday.
“Absolutely one of those days,” explained the former England midfielder, whose side were 10 points clear at the top in December.
“I thought the players’ application was great, the performance was good. Not easy against a low block and organising our distances to play between, but we created enough to win the game and we gave nothing away, maybe one little counter attack first half but yeah, it doesn’t go in the net sometimes.
“When you’re playing a low block it’s not always easy to inject speed and you’re not going to play long to three big centre-halves.
“I thought the lads were really balanced in their play in the first half, we wanted a little bit more speed when we could do and we found that straight away in the second half.
“We pushed and pushed, things are hitting them, they’re getting blocks in, a couple of chances we might do better and we didn’t, but other than that I can’t complain with the lads.
“The application was great, they were doing really good stuff on the pitch other than the ball going in the net.
“Could we have stuck it in the box in the last three or four minutes? Yes. Before that did we try and do everything in the right way for me? Yes. Until that we tried everything in the right way.”
Oxford manager Matt Bloomfield spoke of his pride as his team managed to secure a draw at the CBS Arena and cut their gap to safety to four points.
He said: “I’m proud of our team, the defensive resilience, the way they we were able to keep fighting against some tough situations.
“The grit, the determination, all the characteristics that we want to see in our team that make us proud of our team and I thought we showed them all today.
“I can’t really single anyone out because it was a group effort. Coming to Coventry – what a club, fantastic stadium, top manager, some incredible players for the level – it was always going to be a tough afternoon for us.
“To get a point away from home in any game has to be respected, but to come here and get a point, we have to be so pleased with that.”
