COVENTRY City were beaten 2-1 by Derby County tonight as The Rams claimed their first away win of the season.
The teams had almost identical records in the league going into the match, promising a close game and that proved to be the case.
Both sides were evenly matched for the first 12 minutes before a careless back pass by Jack Rudoni let in Jerry Yates and he accepted the gift, rounding Oliver Dovin and calmly tapping the ball into the net.
The goal delighted the travelling fans who had made the 50-mile trip to the CBS Arena.
In the 24th minute Rudoni looked like he was trying to make immediate amends by trying to curl the ball in from a corner. But it was an easy punch away for Widell Zetterström in The Rams’ goal.
Derby then gifted Coventry a chance when Phillips misjudged the bounce on a looping ball on the edge of the box. It fell for Haji Wright but he could not get it out of his feet and lost possession before he had the chance to get a shot away.
With four minutes to go until the break, a corner from Josh Eccles led to a goalmouth scramble. The ball fell to Wright but he blazed the ball over from six yards when it looked harder to miss the target.
The referee brought a very disjointed first half to a close where neither side had managed to hold onto the ball for longer than two or three passes and both teams created very few chances.
It was more disappointing for the Sky Blues – as well as the gifted goal, the home team played two thirds of the first 45 in Derby’s half and had four corners and three free kicks around the box but still created very little.
The second half started as lacklustre as the first but then there was some smart play on the 57th minute mark when Sheaf laid off the ball to Asante. After a good first touch and quick turn, he fired his shot narrowly wide of the post.
It proved Asante’s last action as he, along with Rudoni and Latibeaudiere, came off as Mark Robins made a triple substitution on the hour. Dasilva, Torp and Mason-Clark came on in a bid to change Coventry’s fortunes.
The swaps injected pace into the home side and led to Coventry putting a few crosses in but still no clear cut chances.
Then, with 72 minutes on the clock, Yates looked to put the ball in the box and his cross deflected off Bobby Thomas, looped over Dovin and into the net.
Five minutes later Dasliva laid the ball off for Tatsuhiro Sakamoto who took a touch to get the ball out of his feet and stroked the ball past Zetterström from 18 yards.
With ten minutes left, the Sky Blues went in search of an equaliser with Eccles floating a shot over the bar and Wright heading wide from a Sakamoto cross.
Coventry had late penalty appeals for a penalty turned down when
Heading into stoppage time, Derby put 11 men behind the ball. Torp had a shot parried and Wright missed with a header and the visitors held on to claim their first win on the road.
