Coventry boss Frank Lampard praised match-winner Tatsuhiro Sakamoto for his superb far-post finish in the 3-2 victory over Oxford at the Kassam Stadium.
Coventry twice took the lead only to see Oxford peg it back, but Sakamoto’s drive in the 70th minute was unstoppable, and United could not find a way back for a third time.
Lampard said: “It was a fantastic finish from Sakamoto. We were not at our best today, but that can happen in these kinds of games.
“I think the early goal gave us the sense that we could really control the game and that went away. But at this stage, when we’re trying to churn out results and points you’ve got to look at the team and think yes, we’re not at our best but we’ve managed three goals again and missed a penalty.
“We felt that we could play through them with ease for five or 10 minutes and we continued with that type of football, playing it quickly and making it quite transitional, which I think suited them more than us.
“In the first half I don’t think they were giving us too many problems, whereas we were always dangerous for them, for sure.
“Then we lost that element of control that we wanted and that happens and you have to fight through that.
“I liked our reaction to the goals in the second half. Their first goal was a clear foul in the build-up, so I wasn’t happy with that. It gave them a lift.”
Coventry’s early opener came from Jack Rudoni, who injured his shoulder and had to leave the field before half-time.
Lampard said: “Jack Rudoni dislocated his shoulder – it popped out, popped back in and back out again, so we’ll have to have a look at that. Hopefully we won’t lose him for too long.
“It was another great header from Jack, we have a habit of scoring from headers this season – it must be a big number, but we work hard in training on getting good crosses in and we’ve got players who can deliver quality crosses.”
Oxford boss Gary Rowett reflected on a good showing from Ole Romeny, who scored his first goal for the club.
“I thought Ole looked bright, connected the game well for us and got in some really good areas,” Rowett said. “He had one chance where the keeper makes a fantastic save from him.
“His first goal will do him no harm, and he showed some very creative moments in the game.
“I thought we actually started to settle down quite well after about 10 minutes and moved the ball quite well and got into some promising positions.
“To then equalise, the disappointment was to then not have the lead for too long. We just needed to hold on for a bit longer.
“We had a bit of momentum when we got it back to 2-2 but we conceded some really poor goals today.
“With the goals we’re conceding, we’re making it a bit difficult for ourselves at the moment in this recent run.”
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