FRANK Lampard praised his side’s spirit after Coventry City returned to winning ways with a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Bristol City.
The Sky Blues hit the woodwork twice before Ephron Mason-Clark bundled home the winning goal just past the hour mark at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Coventry remain five points clear of Middlesborough at the top of the Championship table.
And Lampard felt his players understood the importance of the fixture in the context of Coventry’s season following two games without a victory.
Lampard said: “The season we’ve had and the run of wins that we’ve had, to lose a game and then draw a game, but a little bit more importance and feeling on the game.
“People would have been looking at us to see how we reacted and I thought it was great. The players’ attitude from minute one was really good, we started the game really sharp and continued that.
“We pushed them back and they’re one of the highest pressing teams in the league. We played a lot of the game in their half.
“It absolutely wasn’t our best performance. In the endurance test of a season you have your comfortable wins and the games where you have to fight and dig in for the win.
“Balls are flashing wide, Haji hits the post, Bobby hits the post. Games will give you challenges like that and it showed a lot of spirit in the team.”
Sky Blues stopper Carl Rushworth produced a superb save in injury time to preserve the points for the home side.
And Lampard heaped praise on the on-loan goalkeeper for maintaining a high level of performance throughout the course of the season.
Lampard added: “It’s a fantastic save [at the end]. He’s shown himself to be a really high level goalkeeper for us.
“There’s a lot of games where we haven’t had to call upon him in that way but we did [against Bristol City] and he’s absolutely ready.
“He’s a top goalkeeper, he trains brilliantly, he’s low maintenance, he’s focused and he’s really enjoying himself here.
“I’ve been involved in teams that have won things and leagues. It’s the hardest thing to do, to be consistent throughout.
“You have to find ways to win certain games and, after a loss and a draw, to show that spirit and application, it’s a big win for us.”
Coventry are next in action against Southampton on Saturday, December 20 with kick-off at 12.30pm at St Mary’s Stadium.
