Lee Carsley was disappointed but wants to see a positive response from City...
Coventry City interim first team manager has urged his side to respond positively after City's 2-1 home defeat against Crewe Alexandra.
The Sky Blues went ahead early on when Leon Clarke finished brilliantly from a Cyrus Christie long ball. However, Coventry were pegged back almost immediately when Mark Ellis volleyed home from a corner.
Max Clayton came off the bench to seal the three points for the Railwaymen in the second half and Carsley was disappointed with the nature of the goals conceded.
The interim City boss said: "I thought we gave away two very poor goals. To concede from a set-piece is always difficult to take, especially when we had spoken about it previously.
"For the second goal, we just seemed to be out of shape at the back and that made a poor ball forward into a through ball which was Crewe's winner.
"We had a real fast start to the game and we were well on top. We did well in spells but we need to keep that up for the entire 90 minutes.
"Sometimes it is difficult to stop a goal in open play but when you concede from a set-piece, as a player, you know you can prevent it.
"We didn't defend our areas properly and we needed to do better. We let ourselves down today in that respect and we need to make sure we cut that out of our game."
City are now eight points off the play-off positions and ten points from top spot in League One with the defeat to Crewe.
With a trip to Bournemouth on Tuesday, Carsley wants to see a big response from his players.
He added: "I have said it in the dressing room after the game and I will say it again. You can sit there and feel sorry for yourself about a result like that or you can look for the right response.
"The plan is to go down there and show how we can play. We didn't do ourselves any justice today so we need to make sure we put that right.
"They need to have a positive attitude because that game has gone now so we need to make sure it doesn't affect our future.
"The players are a bit down of course but we will be ready for Tuesday as we have to respond."