FOOTBALL – Frank Lampard admits Coventry City must take Norwich defeat ‘on the chin’

The defeat ends Coventry’s three-game unbeaten run in the league and Lampard admits his side did everything right until the final few minutes.

Lampard said: “It’s unfortunate and that happens in football, and you’ll always look at what we could have done to stop it.

“The first one, nothing and then the second goal, yes but the players gave everything and we’re rightly disappointed with the result, but I take a lot out of the character of the performance.

“Sometimes you’ve got to take these ones on the chin.

“That’s football and in the moment maybe we could have done better, but we did a lot of good things in the game.

“The players did everything right until the last few minutes.”

The Sky Blues broke the on 24 minutes when Jake Bidwell delivered a cross to the back post from the left and van Ewijk volleyed home from six-yards out.

However, Norwich eventually drew level in the first minute of injury time in the second half as Forson curled a shot into the top left corner from 25-yards out to leave Oliver Dovin with no chance.

And the home side completed a sensational late turnaround four minutes later when Forson’s shot from the edge of the penalty area deflected past Dovin to leave the visitors stunned.

Lampard opted to play three centre-backs at Carrow Road for the first time since his appointment as Sky Blues boss.

And the Sky Blues boss felt the tactical switch provided his side with better balance despite City’s late collapse.

Lampard added: “At the minute with the injuries that we’ve got it’s hard.

“We haven’t got many wingers in the team and Tatsu got an injury the other day and he’s on the bench and we had the young boys there as well.

“In a game like this it felt right for the balance of the team and it’s something the players are used to playing so we think it gave us pretty good balance and defensive solidity and we nearly got the result that we wanted.

“We’ve got players coming back into the team that haven’t played for a bit, and they brought us a real strength and performed really well.

“Sometimes it is what it is, and football can go against you in the last minutes, and you have to take it as what it is.”

Coventry are next in action against Sheffield Wednesday in the FA Cup on Saturday, January 11 with kick-off at 6pm at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

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