FRANK Lampard admits Coventry City are ‘not as clinical’ as they were at the start of the campaign following a draw against Charlton Athletic.
The Sky Blues started the New Year with a 1-1 draw at the Valley as Ellis Simms saw his early strike cancelled out by Joe Rankin-Costello.
Coventry still lead the Championship table by eight points ahead of Ipswich Town and are nine points clear of Middlesbrough in third.
And Lampard admits draws have become a disappointing result for his side due to the club’s position in the table.
Lampard said: “We’re not as clinical as we were earlier in the season. That was always going to come.
“I don’t think any team in this league goes win, win, win, win, win and carries on like that.
“Especially with us where we’re maybe not expected to be where we are.
“The attitude of the team to try and do the right things and not just see it out but defend properly when needed [was good].
“Once we got in front, the disappointment is that we don’t hold onto that.
“We’re disappointed now to take a point because that’s where we’re at.
“But sometimes you have to sit back and look at a busy period where we’re really stretched and take our point.”
Frank Lampard’s side made the perfect start when Simms swept Milan van Ewijk’s ball in from the right into the bottom left corner from 12-yards out after just three minutes.
However, Charlton equalised on 69 minutes when Miguel Angel Brau failed to deal with a high ball and Rushworth could only parry Charlie Kelman’s shot into the path of Rankin-Costello who finished from close range.
Lampard made six changes to his side for the fixture and admits he wanted to add freshness and physicality to his team.
Lampard added: “It was hard and tough as expected. They’re a team in the image of their manager – a lot of passion and fight.
“There were waves of the game where it was hard to get hold of the game because it becomes messy, aerial and physical.
“That was one of the reasons for the changes I made – to bring freshness and physicality into the team.
“Part of the team selection was tactical and a big part of it was physical.
“We had the better chances, it was a mistake which led to their goal and without that we probably win the game.”
The Sky Blues boss also hinted at some incomings during the January transfer window to lift the squad in the second half of the campaign,
Lampard said: “We’ve had a fantastic first half of the season, big credit to the squad.
“But we know the duration of the season and what it takes and we know the boys are tired because they give everything.
“Sometimes that can make you come down a tiny bit, a tiny five per cent, which is where you need the freshness and the impact.
“We’ll see [in January].”
Coventry are next in action against Birmingham City on Sunday, January 4 with kick-off at 12pm at St Andrew’s.
