FRANK Lampard is pleased to have put Coventry City’s ghost against Preston North End to rest after snapping a 17-year winless run against the Lilywhites.
Goals from Jack Rudoni and Bobby Thomas at the Coventry Building Society Arena saw the Sky Blues claim a first league win against Preston since September 2007.
And after securing a seventh victory from their last eight league matches, Lampard praised his side for playing with confidence throughout.
Lampard said: “I’m happy for the club and the fans, it’s a nice to put the ghost to rest.
“It was new to me, but it’s a nice thing and a nice feeling for the fans, when you have something like that over you and we put it to rest.
“The main thing was three points obviously and beating a difficult team. They can be difficult, but I thought we dominated for most of the game if I’m honest.
“I’m really pleased with that, and we gave a real confident performance.
“They hardly threatened us all afternoon and they get a goal and then get a feeling and then we’re all nervous in the stadium, it can happen.
“It was important that we dug in, which we did do. I’m not holding that against the players, sometimes you don’t convert those chances.”
Coventry broke the deadlock on the half-hour mark when Ephron Mason-Clark delivered a cross from the left and Rudoni headed the ball into the right corner of the goal from eight-yards out.
And City doubled their lead seven minutes later as Matt Grimes floated a corner into the box from the left and Thomas saw his header from 10-yards out deflect past Preston goalkeeper Freddie Woodman.
The visitors halved the deficit eight minutes from time as substitute Will Keane poked Brad Potts’ low ball in from the right past Oliver Dovin from close range.
City switched to a three-at-the-back formation against the Lilywhites owing to injuries further up the pitch.
The Sky Blues also handed a debut to Sky Blues fan Jamie Paterson from the bench while Ben Sheaf made his return from injury as a late substitute.
And Lampard admits the formation change shows his side are capable of showing tactical flexibility on the pitch.
Lampard added: “We’ve had to be adaptable in the last eight or nine games because of injuries to big players at the top end of the pitch.
“So, we’ve adapted and showed another side to our game and the players have really taken it on board and we’ve got results.
“When we have everybody fit, we have different ways we can approach games and we wanted to be really positive, against what we knew would be a back five.
“We wanted to pin them back and have a lot of the ball and they don’t always make it easy for you, but I think from our manner we let them know it was going to be played in their half and we’re going to put pressure on you.”
Coventry travel to Oxford United on Saturday, March 1 with kick-off at 12.30pm at the Kassam Stadium.
