COVENTRY City Under 18s suffered a second straight away defeat in the Premier Academy League after going down to Midlands rivals Aston Villa at Bodymoor Heath.
Gregor Rioch's side trailed 3-1 going into half time and although Ashley Cain's second half strike reduced the deficit to one goal they could not find an equalizer.
The hosts came out of the blocks quickly and pressed the Sky Blues early on and the pressure told after 20 minutes when Gary Gardener found the top corner of Michael Quirke's net from 20 yards.
City hit back ten minutes before the break when Shaun Jeffers stroked home from four yards after receiving a ball through from Robert Ogleby.
The Sky Blues were looking good for going into the break on level terms but a quick double strike from the hosts inside the final five minutes of the half put Villa firmly in the driving seat.
Gardner rose above all else in the 41st minute to head home a corner past Quirke and with the Sky Blues still reeling from the first strike, Connor Taylor raced through the back line to chip over Quirke two minutes later.
City gave a pleasing response to being two goals down in the second half, halting the creativity in Villa's midfield and Cain's first real effort on goal three minutes before the hour mark going just over the bar.
Cain got on the scoresheet though eight minutes later with a superb free-kick from 20 yards out after Jeffers had been brought down to make it 3-2.
But that was as close as it got for the Sky Blues though as Gardner went narrowly missed out on his hat-trick by hitting the post with 15 minutes to go.
Team
Coventry City: Quirke, Bottomer, Gudger, Grogan, Cameron, Christie, Cain (Leluu 79), Thomas (Ruffels 84), Jeffers, Ogleby, Blackwell.
Subs: Phillips, Bigirimana, Harris
