FRANK Lampard insists Coventry City must handle the ‘pressures’ of a title race after the club’s promotion hopes took a blow following a goalless draw against Oxford United.
The Sky Blues saw their winless run stretch to three matches after playing out a stalemate at the Coventry Building Society Arena despite Oxford finishing the game with 10-men following Will Lankshear’s late dismissal.
And Lampard felt the U’s should have had another player sent off before Lankshear’s dismissal after Ciaron Brown pulled back Haji Wright with the Oxford defender already on a yellow card.
Coventry still lead the Championship table by a single point although second-placed Middlesbrough have a game in-hand.
And with a top-of-the-table clash against Boro on the horizon, Lampard insists his side must handle the pressure over the final third of the campaign.
Lampard said: “We’ve all got it [pressure]. I’ll have to answer questions on it all the time but it is what it is for these remaining 15 games.
“We just have to handle our pressures. With the crowd behind us, playing as we normally play, I know the energy will be big against Middlesbrough.
“It’s a frustrating result. The players did everything, we dominated every part of it and didn’t give anything away.
“The ball wasn’t going in the net for us. It was very good up to the last bit. It’s not easy against a low-block team and a dogged team.
“We created enough to win the game but it didn’t happen for us. We kept pushing and then when they had 10-men.
“They should have had nine, they should have had a red card before that. The whole stadium knows it but yet again we don’t get major decisions here.
“It was a little bit of us not being clinical and otherwise it wasn’t the day for us.”
Lampard opted to change both of his centre-backs for the fixture against Oxford as Luke Woolfenden and Joel Latibeaudiere replaced Bobby Thomas and Liam Kitching in the starting line-up.
And Lampard explained his reasons behind the changes as the Sky Blues recorded a clean sheet for the first time since Boxing Day.
Lampard added: “In my opinion, Bobby [Thomas] and Kitch [Liam Kitching] have been the best central defensive pairing in the league from the start of the season until early January.
“We’ve had a tough moment, it’s not to pick on those two lads but when you’ve got two other boys that are training well, sometimes there’s a moment to look at that.
“I thought the boys did well, it’s no big slant on Bobby and Kitch. It’s hard keeping consistency game after game. The boys did well that came in.
“We had two losses before [the Oxford game] and they’re all collective things. It gives me a good eye for what the competition is in that position going forward.”
Coventry are next in action against Middlesbrough on Monday, Februray 16 with kick-off at 8pm at the CBS Arena.
