Coventry 1 Birmingham 0: Match Report

Feb 21 2009

Birmingham missed the opportunity to close the gap on Coca-Cola Championship leaders Wolves as Scott Dann's first-minute goal at the Ricoh Arena ensured that Chris Coleman celebrated a year in charge of Coventry with a victory.

The Sky Blues raced out of the blocks and Clinton Morrison forced Maik Taylor to save with his feet with little more than 30 seconds on the clock after good link-up play with strike partner Leon Best.

From Daniel Fox's resulting corner, Dann was left unmarked inside the six-yard box to smash the ball home.

It was a thoroughly deserved win for the hosts, who are now unbeaten in four matches in all competitions and look to be on track to achieve Coleman's target of a top-half finish in the league this season.

Birmingham were well below-par, particularly in the first half when their passing was sloppy and lacked urgency.

A lack of goals - the Blues have scored just nine in their last 12 Championship outings - must be a cause for concern for boss Alex McLeish and his side never really looked capable of mounting a recovery after falling behind early-on.

The only consolation for Birmingham is that they remain in second place after Reading slipped to a 2-0 home defeat to Bristol City.

Both managers made one change to their starting line-up.

Coleman recalled Leon McKenzie as on-loan Sunderland midfielder Jordan Henderson dropped down to the bench.

McLeish's switch was an enforced one after top-scorer Kevin Phillips suffered a torn hamstring against Nottingham Forest last weekend, so Cameron Jerome came into the side.

Morrison was making a nuisance of himself against his