FRANK Lampard admits Coventry City are ‘in a difficult moment’ with the Sky Blues no longer clear at the top of the table following defeat against Queens Park Rangers.
Coventry surrendered the lead at Loftus Road after Josh Eccles put the Sky Blues ahead only for Richard Kone and Nicolas Madsen to turn the game in the home side’s favour.
The Sky Blues have not won on the road since victory at Middlesbrough in November – a result which moved Lampard’s side 10 points clear at the top of the Championship table.
A run of seven away games without a win has left the Sky Blues top of the table on goal difference and five points clear of Hull City in third although the latter side have a game in hand.
However, Lampard remains defiant despite the club’s poor away form and insists he and his players will fight to return the club to the Premier League following a 25-year absence.
Lampard said: “It’s clear we’re in a difficult moment. We’re top of the league, we know that gap has gone now, it’s a race from now and we have to pick ourselves up very quickly.
“We just have to fight through these situations. Maybe the pressure, teams are trying to beat us now, it’s a different pressure, we have to deal with that.
“It’s important we learn lessons from it and understand it. My job is to try and bring confidence [to the squad].
“We want to fight to get to the Premier League. We know the fans are behind us. It’s not for the want of trying.
“I’ve always said when we were points clear, the gap can go in a three-game week. It’s probably taken a month, it’s a reality of where we are now.
“We have to be defiant. Are we going to feel sorry for ourselves in being top of the league? It would be a nonsense.”
Coventry broke the deadlock on 53 minutes when Jack Rudoni delivered a cross to the back post from the right and Eccles guided a header back across goal and into the net from a tight angle.
The home side equalised on 66 minutes when Kone superbly flicked Madsen’s low ball in from the right into the bottom left corner from eight-yards out.
QPR took the lead seven minutes later as Madsen lashed a loose ball into the roof of the net from 12-yards out after Carl Rushworth could only parry Harvey Vale’s cross into the scorer’s path.
And Lampard felt his side were punished for failing to deal with the game’s chaotic moments when they arrived.
Lampard added: “The feeling was on this pitch, against a difficult opponent, it was going to be a tough game.
“There wasn’t much in it before [the goal] that gets us in front then you fancy us a little bit.
“It was a tough match and we’re obviously disappointed to lose it especially when we go in front.
“But we didn’t deal with the messy parts of the game well enough, second balls, a few duels and you get punished for it.
“Again, when there’s mess in games and second balls and balls dropping and we don’t deal with them and we’re late on some things, you get punished for it.
“I was fortunate enough to win things but they were never easy rides. The things we’re trying to do here is different.
“It’s difficult to take in that sense. What we must do now is keep positive and look to the next one.”
Coventry host Oxford United on Saturday, February 7 with kick-off at 3.01pm at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
