We're Fifth From Bottom - Coleman

Last updated : 08 December 2009 By Covsupport News Service

Coventry City manager Chris Coleman has said that the Sky Blues are in a battle against relegation.

Many of the City supporters at Glanford Park yesterday as well as those who watched the game on television were left questioning whether the City players had the heart for a battle to escape the Championship basement after City lost 1-0 at Scunthorpe United.

Speaking to the CT, Chris Coleman said: "That's what you get if you don't turn up for a six-pointer. "If you don't start properly, if you don't apply yourself from the start, you get your backside smacked - especially when you're in our position and you haven't won for nine games.

"However good I think I am as a manager and however good the players think they are, we're fifth from bottom.

"I've been saying for some time that I've got more belief in this squad of players than any since I arrived, and I thought we'd turned the corner with our performances against Crystal Palace and Queens Park Rangers.

"But this is a very unforgiving league and when you're having a bad time you need all hands to the pumps, playing together, working for each other, and I didn't see that in the first 45 minutes.

"We weren't marking properly at set-pieces and we were getting done by one-twos on the edge of our box. "We knew what they were going to do, we worked on it in training all week, but for some reason we decided not to put it into practice.

"Despite that we had a couple of fantastic chances in the first 15 minutes but we didn't put them away.

"And then we conceded a bad goal so instead of going in a couple up at half-time we were 1-0 down.

"We came strong in the second half and on another day we'd have scored two or three late on. "But it's no good playing for 45 minutes when you're paid to play ninety."

Match action http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/8400158.stm