JOE Edwards hopes Coventry City can take belief from their display against league leaders Burnley despite slipping to a narrow defeat.
The Sky Blues surrendered an early lead after Haji Wright’s goal put the Sky Blues ahead only for Jaidon Anthony to score a brace for the Clarets at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Coventry head coach Frank Lampard received a red card after the final whistle for venting his frustrations towards referee James Bell at full time.
And Sky Blues assistant manager Edwards admits his side left the pitch disappointed but insists his players must take belief from their overall performance against the title contenders.
Edwards said: “It’s a dressing room that has a lot of disappointment and there’s frustration in there, that word we will keep talking about, which is a good thing because it means you feel like you should have got more out of the game which is always a plus because it’s not always the case.
“Sometimes when you play against these top teams who are up the top end of the table, the game could be done by the 70-minute mark, so it’s a good thing, but there is a lot of disappointment around the result because the way we’ve progressed and the way we’ve been playing recently, we had every belief that we can beat the likes of Burnley.
“We haven’t been able to beat them, but there was so much in the game and Burnley will leave the CBS knowing the challenge they have faced and there is an awful lot for us to be positive about.
“I’m sure they wouldn’t have felt any sort of comfort at any point in the game and we just have to keep taking belief from that.”
The Sky Blues made the perfect start as James Trafford tipped Jack Rudoni’s low effort onto the post before Ephron Mason-Clark saw his follow-up blocked into the path of Wright who volleyed home from close range after just five minutes.
However, Burnley equalised on 16 minutes when Anthony finished into an empty net from close range after Lyle Foster flicked Josh Cullen’s low cross into the scorer’s path.
And the visitors completed the turnaround on 46 minutes when Liam Kitching and Bradley Collins failed to deal with a long ball in-behind as Anthony pounced to finish through the legs of the defender from 20-yards out.
Collins made his first start in goal for the Sky Blues since December after regular shot-stopper Oliver Dovin suffered a season-ending ACL injury.
And Edwards refused to solely blame Collins for Burnley’s second goal and praised the goalkeeper’s reaction following the match-winner.
Edwards added: “I don’t look at it and see it’s an out and out Brad Collins error. I’m confident in Brad’s ability to react to it because coming in at Bramall Lane having not played in a long time is not easy and he stepped straight in last week and put in a solid performance and he showed composure immediately.
“Then their goal happened in the 46th minute and for the remainder of the game he was sound and made saves and was good in our build-up, so all good from our point of view.
“It’s frustrating. It’s so early in the second half and there’s a mix-up at the back and it’s a mistake which is clear and it’s just unfortunate that when you’ve got two teams like us and Burnley who are well drilled and well organised and defend with as much discipline and work rate as we both do, sometimes mistakes do decide these games.
“The big marker for us is what is the reaction going to be like and that was the positive for us because we completely bounced back from it immediately and took control of the game and for the remaining 35 minutes of the game, it was played in Burnley’s half and we were knocking on the door.”
Coventry are next in action against Portsmouth on Wednesday, April 9 with kick-off at 8pm at the CBS Arena.
