Coventry City 1-0 Bristol City: FLW report as Mason-Clark strike sees Sky Blues return to winning ways | OneFootball

FLW report from the Coventry Building Society Arena for this Championship clash

Coventry City returned to winning ways in the Championship by seeing off Bristol City 1-0 at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

After taking one point from six on their travels against Ipswich Town and Preston North End, Frank Lampard's side picked up a 14th win of the campaign courtesy of Ephron Mason-Clark's close-range effort on 64 minutes in what was an end-to-end contest in the West Midlands.

Coventry City 1-0 Bristol City

The Sky Blues started the brighter of the two sides, with Mason-Clark and Jack Rudoni at the forefront of the action. The latter saw a low drive comfortably saved by Radek Vitek before the former fired a low drive wide from an offside position inside three minutes.

13 minutes later, Haji Wright went close to marking his 100th appearance with a ninth goal of the season as his early strike hit the outside of the post, with Victor Torp seeing an effort from the rebound blocked by Rob Dickie.

The Robins' first clear-cut opening came on 20 minutes as Sinclair Armstrong struck the post after being played in down the right flank, before Neto Borges' subsequent side-foot effort was easily gathered by Carl Rushworth.

The Republic of Ireland international continued to carry the Reds' largest goal threat, firing another fizzing goalbound strike that forced Rushworth into another smart save.

Wright went close once again for the hosts after easing his way past Neto Borges, with the USMNT international firing inches wide of Vitek's left-hand corner, before the Manchester United loanee was at full stretch to avert Tatsuhiro Sakamoto's curling effort.

The visitors thought they had been rewarded for a positive spell after 31 minutes, with Armstrong finding target with a rebounded strike. However, his second goal of the campaign proved elusive after a handball in the lead-up.

In what was an end-to-end first period, Coventry's final meaningful chance saw Wright once again denied by Vitek, before Emil Riis headed Ross McCrorie's inswinging cross straight at Rushworth two minutes before the interval.

Coventry then saw appeals for a penalty dismissed as Bobby Thomas headed Milan van Ewijk's deep cross over the crossbar seven minutes into the second half, with Lampard's side continuing to push for an opener as a Rudoni delivery evaded Wright just moments later.

Gerhard Struber's side looked to make the Sky Blues pay, but Riis wasn't able to direct a low cross from substitute, Haydon Roberts, on target, before a hanging cross from the wing-back was met by the onrushing Adam Randell, who, once again, brought the best out of Rushworth on the hour-mark.

However, the league leaders would take the lead four minutes later as they were able to recycle a corner from which Thomas hit the crossbar, with Mason-Clark turning the ball home after Vitek initially attempted to narrow the angle for Wright's through ball.

Looking for an instant response, the visitors went close on 70 minutes as Anis Mehmeti saw a low drive beaten away by Rushworth after it took a deflection off Milan van Ewijk. They would go close once more seven minutes later as Riis glanced a close-range header over the top.

The Coventry keeper was able to thwart set-piece specialist and Robins substitute, Scott Twine, from 20 yards after the hosts were left aggrieved with a handful of decisions from referee, Martin.

Ellis Simms couldn't quite cap off an ideal afternoon for the hosts shortly after coming on, as he latched onto Thomas' raking pass before firing a low effort off target.

As the game entered second-half stoppage-time, Rushworth remained calm amongst the chaos and denied Fally Mayulu who looked to find the bottom corner on the turn, before Sky Blues substitute, Josh Eccles, was unable to add further gloss on the scoreboard in the fourth minute of added time.

It is a result that sees Coventry onto 47 points from 21 games played, whilst Bristol City sit in 11th, four points behind the play-off places after a fourth game without victory.

FT: Coventry City 1-0 Bristol City

Player Ratings

Coventry City

Carl Rushworth - 8.5

Milan van Ewijk - 6.5

Bobby Thomas - 8

Liam Kitching - 7.5

Jay Dasilva - 7.5

Matt Grimes - 8

Victor Torp - 7.5 (Eccles 86" - 6)

Tatsuhiro Sakamoto - 6.5

Jack Rudoni - 6.5 (Allen 86" - 6)

Ephron Mason-Clark - 8 (Woolfenden 90" - N/A)

Haji Wright - 7.5 (Simms 81" - 6)

Unused Subs: Ben Wilson, Kaine Kesler-Hayden, Joel Latibeaudiere, Jake Bidwell, Kai Andrews

Bristol City

Radek Vitek - 7

Neto Borges - 6.5

Rob Dickie - 7.5

Cameron Pring - 6.5 (Hirakawa 85" - 6)

Mark Sykes - 6.5 (Roberts 46" - 6.5)

Anis Mehmeti - 6.5 (Twine 75" - 6)

Jason Knight - 6

Adam Randell - 6.5

Ross McCrorie - 6.5

Emil Riis - 6 (Mayulu 85" - 6)

Sinclair Armstrong - 6.5

Unused Subs: Max O'Leary, Josh Stokes, Ephraim Yeboah, Elijah Morrison, Harry Cornick

Frank Lampard reacts as Coventry City see off Bristol City

Reacting to his side's latest success, Lampard began: "Really pleased with the result.

"I said before the game it would be a tough match, and it was. They're a good team with a back three and a lot of power at the top end of the pitch.

"From minute one, I thought our attitude was great," he added. "First half, they're always going to give you problems in counter-attacks, they're probably one of the best teams in the league for that, and crosses with wing-backs, etc.

"But, I thought our attitude was spot on in the first half. Maybe, we didn't get what we thought we maybe deserved, or some good chances without being great.

"Then we get our goal, and when we have to defend, we defend.

"A tough match, but I'm really pleased," the Sky Blues boss stated.

Gerhard Struber reacts as Bristol City edged out by Coventry City

After a narrow defeat in CV6, Struber's post-match assessment began: "I think, in the end, it's frustrating.

"We know they have outstanding physical power. We could see this on the field in the second phase, how they deal, and we defended, most of the time, on a really good level.

"Against a team like that, to defend like that in our setup, the boys did it on a great level," Struber claimed.

"In the end, we had enough chances to bring some points home from here. I feel a little bit sorry for my boys, when you invest so much effort, were so close, and then you drive home without points.

"It's always a disappointment. But, at the same time, we can take so many good things from this game, especially how strong we were in the details," he added.

"One time, we had a problem with how we defended our box, a second phase ball, and on the other hand, we had three really good chances to score, and, in this direction, to make a statement.

"I missed that today, and in the end, that was the difference between them and us."