TONY Mowbray wants his side to be more clinical after beating Chesterfield 1-0 on Saturday despite having 26 attempts on goal.
In-form striker Adam Armstrong scored the only goal of the game as the Sky Blues beat Chesterfield at the Ricoh Arena to maintain their unbeaten home record and move up to fourth in the League One table.
Mowbray’s side perhaps should have won by a bigger margin having looked dangerous on almost every venture in the Chesterfield half.
The City manager did admit he felt his side could have avoided what turned out to be a nervous finish for both himself and the fans.
“We made it nervous at the end as we didn’t find the second goal”, he said. “But we got there in the end.
“We could have been out of sight in the first half. It was really exciting because everything we hoped that the young forward line would be came off, we created so many opportunities.
“Hopefully the fans will be patient with them though, as they are a young team and form can change rapidly.
“They can get a bit of a shock playing in the first team and they get shouted at come half-time, you don’t get that in the 21’s! But it’s how they develop as players.
“But when you work on things like shape and game plans all week and then see them come to fruition come game-day then it’s great.
“To score one goal after 26 shots however is frustrating and is something to work on for next weekend at Bury.”
Amstrong bagged his sixth goal of the season thanks to a clever turn and finish inside the area five minutes into the second half but there were numerous other chances for the hosts to improve their goal tally.
Jacob Murphy unleashed a curling shot from just outside the area which drifted narrowly wide and John Fleck saw a long range volley beaten away by Tommy Lee as the Sky Blues dominated the opening period but failed to find a breakthrough.
After Armstrong’s goal, Murphy was the dangerman and on several occassion his pace proved too much for the Chesterfield defence but Lee did well to keep the scoreline down to just one goal.
And Ryan Kent also proved to be a constant threat on his full debut, but the closest he came to scoring was when he dragged a shot inches wide after being put through by Fleck.
Mowbray added: “Jacob Murphy really ran at players and created numerous chances but it wasn’t just him.
“Young Ryan Kent showed what a talent he can be and Ruben Lamerais showed what he can do when he came on.
“There were real positives, especially the defence and the way they dug in. When you consider they had players like Lee Novak and Sylvain Ebanks-Blake, players who have scored in higher divisions, it’s really pleasing.”
