City manager Peter Taylor had little to grumble about yesterday after City's defeat at the hands of Coventry.

Taylor said, "I was extremely disappointed with the first half. That was not acceptable and the way we started left us on the back foot for the rest of the half.

"The three goals we gave away were very poor and we have not been that tight in defence in recent weeks.

"I can understand the crowd's reaction because our performances and results have not been good enough for two months.

"They pay good money to watch their team and I totally accept their reaction. If we are on top I take the praise. So I have to take the stick when things aren't going well.

"But we've just got to try and bounce back and I've got to try and rally the troops. As I've said before, it is plain to see that the Wycombe defeat in the FA Cup has really hurt us badly."

Meanwhile victorious Coventry boss Gordon Strachan told reporters that he believed that this was the first step on the road to Coventry's recovery.

He said, "I think about this game as a good start to our goal. Today's performance shows a lot of spirit - the previous victory had given us confidence and the players must be very happy with themselves.

"Especially away from home we play better and make a lot of chances. The reason we have not been winnning games is mostly down to an inability to stay focussed with our goalscoring chances. Now John Hartson has come along - he's focussed with his chances and the rest have followed.

"People say these games are like cup ties but they are more important than that. If you lose a cup game you get another chance in the same competition the following season.

"But if you lose too many games in this competition then you won't be playing there next season.

"I was delighted with the football it was absolutely fantastic. We needed a victory and once you get a victory the world's a better place.

"You can start to play more attractive football and take chances."

All City skipper Matt Elliott could do was appolagise to fans for the results by saying, Matt Elliott apologised to City fans after the 3-1 defeat at the hands of Coventry City and admitted "it just wasn't good enough".

Elliott said: "Things went wrong from the kick-off and it is typical of the way things are at the moment.

"Muzzzy Izzet came in and won the tackle in midfield and it's cannoned off another player and put Hadji through on goal and he crossed the ball in for Bellamy to finish well.

"One minute gone and we find ourselves 1-0 down but having said that we got ourselves back into the match and you would think we could roll on from there but if anything we faltered from there and Coventry deservedly went in ahead.

"A lot of the crowd were getting on our backs and justifiably so.

"We've got to dig in, many other teams have had spells like this and we've just got to battle through it.

"The only thing you can do is stick together and work hard in training as we have been doing.

"You can talk about the reasons for today for has long as you like but talking will only get you so far, we've got to start showing a bit more spirit in our performances.

"Confidence is not what it could be and that showed in the performance but the desire to do well is still there.

"You've got to remember that we are still in a good position in one of the strongest leagues in Europe.

"Obviously things are not going well at the moment but we are still in a half decent position.

"Things turn round pretty quickly and we need the supporters backing.

"They can put their views across but come match time we need their support or its only going to work against us."