Manager Tony Mowbray on his side's disappointing defeat on the road against the Gills...
The City boss gave a frank assessment of his side's defensive display as the Sky Blues suffered defeat against Gillingham.
Kyel Reid had put City in front, but goals from Max Ehmer and Billy Knott over turned the deficit and gave the home side all three points.
Mowbray’s side has come under scrutiny for a lack of goals in recent matches, but the 52-year-old admitted it was the basics of defending that let his team down on Saturday. He said: “We failed to deal with their directness all game and if you don’t deal with it you get punished eventually.
“It was epitomised by their first goal. It is such a simple, yet effective, idea that we struggled to cope with. A long-throw into our box and we didn’t have anybody taking charge to win their header and clear the ball.
“Perhaps it’s more frustrating because I built a career in that position so expect a higher standard than what was shown today. It is frustrating because defensively we have been okay this season so far.”
Andre Wright started his first game for the Sky Blues, with Marvin Sordell and Kyel Reid in support of the 19-year old. Mowbray was happy with the contribution of the attacking trio but maintained the entire XI needs to be performing if City are to start picking up points.
“The front three were okay today, that’s why the main focus post-match is the defence. In previous week’s it seems to have been the other way around but today it was a role-reversal.
“I would say the main problem is the consistencies of a fairly young team, who need to learn quickly. It is a steep learning curve but one they need to rise to and help us improve our recent results.”
He added: “We need some of those to show experience beyond their years and prove why they’re at this level and that they’re good enough to show that consistency week in, week out.”