Coventry City defender James McPake has said he wants to extend the clubs run of four successive clean sheets t five when Norwich visit The Ricoh on Saturday.
Coventry City made it four clean sheets in a row on Saturday when they drew 0-0 at Reading. However much of that could be put down to poor finishing by Reading rather than good defending, but the record books will show the result not the performance.
The last time Coventry City managed four clean sheets in a row was in December 2002 under Gary McAllister and now the Sky Blues players have set their sights on five clean sheets, something last achieved under Roland Nilsson in October 2001.
The last time City prevented the opposition from scoring in six successive games was in the mid 1930's when Coventry City went six games without conceding a goal.
The Coventry defenders are on a high at the moment and are keen for their good run to continue, McPake said to the CT: "Keeping clean sheets is great."
"We said before Saturday's game at Reading that we have had three clean sheets but we wanted to make it four. It is in our minds now as defenders and we want to see how far we can go and how many we can get."
"That's our job and there is nothing better for a defender. We are getting in the habit of keeping them now and it's a good habit to have."
The Sky Blues were fortunate not to have conceded a hat fut of goals at Reading and Westwood saved a penalty against Middlesbrough, but McPake is happy with the effort and performance that he and his fellow defenders have achieved.
"It was certainly a test for us at Reading because they had chances in the game, as we did, but I feel they have got some of the better forwards in the league with their movement. They are good players and they work well together."
"They could have had three or four goals but they never, so we stood up to the test and were happy to come away with a clean sheet."
McPake is looking forward to the visit of Norwich on Saturday and the return of former Coventry City players Elliot Ward and Leon Barnett, although Barnett will be suspended for the game after being red carded last week after throwing the ball at the referee against Portsmouth.
Speaking about Norwich, McPake said, "They are doing very well by all accounts and I am pleased to see it. Maybe it will add a bit of spice for them, coming back here, but the only spice for us is to make it five clean sheets in a row."
"That's what we are aiming for, and as a team we want to keep climbing the table and get up to the automatic spots."
McPake is just one yellow card away from suspension after picking up his fourth booking of the season at Reading.
"It was a strange one because I have had a few bookings this season and I am not really a player who gets booked very often," he said. "It made me think that I needed to be careful but I thought it was a very harsh booking."
"I tried to block the cross and the lad jumped over me and I have not even caught him and the referee has deemed that a booking. So it is a bit annoying because that takes me up to four now."