The Sky Blues were beaten 2-0 by Championship league leaders Norwich City on Wednesday night at St Andrew’s.
First-half goals from Teemu Pukki and Emiliano Buendia condemned City to defeat despite creating some good openings in the second period.
City will now turn their attention to Saturday’s clash against promotion hopefuls Brentford as their tough run of fixtures continues.
Mark Robins made four changes to the side beaten by Cardiff City last weekend with Ben Wilson, Kyle McFadzean, Jordan Shipley and Tyler Walker all returning to the starting line-up.
The visitors created the first opening of the game when Pukki ran through on goal before attempting to square the ball to Todd Cantwell only for his pass to go behind the midfielder with the goal at his mercy.
City almost took the lead midway through the first period when Julien Dacosta’s cross from the right was headed over the bar by Callum O’Hare from close range, under pressure from a Norwich defender.
Norwich took the lead on 29 minutes when Pukki was played through by Emiliano Buendia before calmly rolling the ball into the bottom left corner.
The Canaries looked to add to their lead when Dimitris Giannoulis tried his luck from the left-hand side of the penalty area flashing an effort wide of the post.
The onslaught continued when a corner from the right was met by the head of Grant Hanley whose powerful effort was superbly saved by Ben Wilson.
City then cleared the ball off their own goal line with Shipley heading the ball to safety after Wilson had taken the sting out of Pukki’s initial effort.
Norwich doubled their lead in first-half injury-time when Pukki took the ball off McFadzean before selflessly squaring for Buendia to finish into an open goal.
HALF-TIME: SKY BLUES 0-2 NORWICH CITY
Robins made a double change at the interval with Leo Ostigard and Max Biamou replacing Michael Rose and Jamie Allen.
City sparked into life just before the hour mark when Dacosta played an excellent ball into the path of Callum O’Hare who took a superb touch before seeing his effort smothered behind by Tim Krul.
The Sky Blues came close again when Josh Pask’s cross was cleared to the edge of the penalty area and brought down by Gus Hamer who fired a venomous effort inches past the left-hand post.
The midfielder went on a mazy dribble minutes later dribbling past several players before seeing his low effort held by Krul.
City continued to search for a way back into the game when Shipley delivered an excellent cross from the left that found Pask at the back post with Krul equal to the defender’s header.
Norwich tried to kill the game off when Cantwell spotted the run of Max Aarons at the back post only for Wilson to make a smart save to deny the right-back from close range.
Sky Blues captain Liam Kelly made his comeback from injury when he was introduced for the final 10 minutes as City couldn’t find a way past Krul in the Norwich goal.
FULL-TIME: SKY BLUES 0-2 NORWICH CITY
Goals: Pukki (29’), Buendia (45’+1)
Yellows: Dacosta (4’), Hanley (17’), Gibson (70’), Cantwell (84’)
Sky Blues XI: Ben Wilson (GK), Julian Dacosta (Pask 58’), Kyle McFadzean (C), Dom Hyam, Michael Rose (Ostigard 46’), Jordan Shipley, Matty James (Kelly 78’), Jamie Allen (Biamou 46’), Gustavo Hamer, Callum O’Hare, Tyler Walker (Gyokeres 63’)
Unused Subs: Marko Marosi (GK), Ben Sheaf, Will Bapaga, Amadou Bakayoko
Norwich City XI: Tim Krul (GK), Max Aarons, Grant Hanley (C), Ben Gibson, Dimitris Giannoulis, Oliver Skipp (Tettey 90’+3), Kenny McLean, Emiliano Buendia (Zimmermann 87’), Mario Vrancic (Dowell 69’), Todd Cantwell (Rupp 87’), Teemu Pukki (Idah 90’+2)
Unused Subs: Daniel Barden (GK), Xavi Quintilla, Jacob Sorensen, Onel Hernandez