Coventry City's manager has claimed that progress is being made, but has also admitted that there is a long way to go.
A reflective and frustrated Coleman said to the CT, "A month ago we were so close to it and we lost to Cardiff and have not won since in a run including Sheffield United, Reading, Leicester, West Brom: all teams who were above us and we have got to get to that standard."
"We are not there yet, it is as simple as that. We had a great run but we never beat any of the big boys. The disappointing thing is if you looked at us at the start of the season when we lost a few players and all the negativity, we thought that if we could finish top half, fantastic."
"Then we had a great first dozen games and then the next ten games we couldn't win. Then we went off like a rocket and we dangled a carrot and we were so close with ten games to go and then we have just fallen away in a disappointing fashion.
"The big points we dropped were against Derby, Sheffield Wednesday and Plymouth, three home games we should have won.If we had we would still be knocking on the door, ironically enough."
The season has frustrated Coleman and he went on to say, "It has been disappointing and I can feel that on everyone in and out of the training ground and among the supporters, which is fair enough because we dangled a carrot and when that is snatched away it is not very nice.
"We all feel it, my staff and the players, but we can still finish mid-table, which is what we have got to aim for, and we have still got three tough games to go. If we do that it is progression from last year. It's a slow one but it's a progression."
Chris Coleman is looking ahead to strengthening the squad and want to get as many new players in as early as possible after the end of this season to give the new lads a good chance to bond with the team before pre season training gets under way
Coleman prophesied, "The next two windows are going to be vital for us in putting the final few pieces together, to get it all in place and be able to say we are not just going to get in the top ten for two or three weeks, we are going to be in there consistently fighting for it,"
"This time last year we still needed to trim the squad down a hell of a lot but the disappointing thing was we lost a couple of players that we didn't want to lose. So we need to add again in the summer and if we can do it before we go into the pre-season and get the group together with the lads we have just signed we can hit the ground running with a squad of players and then it will be interesting."
"We came away from the Peterborough game with 3,000 travelling fans bouncing and we know that if we can sustain it, week in and week out for two or three months, not just two or three weeks, then I think we will stay up there."
"We have still got work to do with the squad to bridge that gap and compete against teams like Reading, Sheffield United and Leicester, but we do know that if we can get there then this could be an exciting place because we have had a taste of it."