Match Reports

Championship leaders Watford strolled to victory at the Ricoh, and highlighted the gulf between teams that come down from the Premiership and those like us that have been stuck down here for years now.

While we have lots of forwards among our ranks, we don't have a Marlon King or Darius Henderson scoring consistently every game, and our defence was also torn apart with worrying ease this evening as we suffered a third successive defeat without scoring, despite some personnel changes, including the return of David McNamee at right-back, and the re-deployment of Isaac Osbourne in his preferred midfield holding role.

Stephen Hughes had a long-range free-kick go wide early on, but the game soon became the Marlon King show. Andy Marshall made a desperate save from the striker, who put the rebound against the post, letting us off the hook, but it was an early warning sign.

Marshall then made a close-range save from O'Toole, and we were hanging on by the tips of our fingers with only a quarter of the game gone.

There was a long disruption in play when Gary Borrowdale picked up an injury and had to go off, and the introduction of Arjan De Zeeuw saw us reshuffle the defence, with Ben Turner having to play at left-back.

And shortly after play had got underway again, it was a mistake from the out-of-position Turner that let in Marlon King who eased a ball through to Adam Johnson who finished coolly past Marshall.

Having conceded, we then began to create a couple of chances, perhaps considering that the best form of defence might actually be attack on this occasion, as Julian Gray almost found Michael Mifsud with a useful cross, and Kevin Kyle went close with a header.

But we were to concede again in the 42nd minute, as King capitalised on another defensive mistake to fire home and double the visitors lead.

We showed some signs of determination in first-half stoppage time, which went on for a long time given the earlier injury to Borrowdale and another one to Hughes during the added time, but were unable to turn some nice passing and possession into a goal, and so went in two goals down, with the crowd booing the team off the pitch.

Straight after the break, the Hornets sealed their victory, and did so on a very quick move that saw King find strike partner Henderson, and again Marshall could do nothing about the finish as our task became even greater.

With the game effectively won, Watford were able to slow down, and then eventually take off both their in-form forwards, and we did create some chances but could not even muster a consolation goal.

Kyle's header was cleared off the line, and then Marshall saved well from defender Danny Shittu, who had been a rock-like presence for the visitors.

Eliott Ward might also have scored from a set-piece, and Michael Mifsud was caught offside a couple of times, but there was to be nothing at all for those Sky Blues fans who chose to remain in the stadium to cheer.

Given our current transfer embargo and lack of funds, we need to be doing better than this at home - even against the league-leaders.

Our table-topping prowess of a couple of months ago is now but a distant memory, and it's looking once again like a long hard season is in store.

Fresh from the International break, City turned in probably their worst performance of the season so far, and duly went down to Plymouth at Home Park without too much of a fight.

It says a lot that Andy Marshall was our best player - making a string of saves to keep the score down, as we could easily have conceded a lot of goals today.

With winger Lee Martin looking a livewire on his first start for the home side, Plymouth made a bright start, and Marshall had to make a couple of saves from the on-loan Man Utd player who looked much better than when playing for his parent club against us in the Carling Cup recently.

But before long, Martin had given his side the lead, as he beat his marker to finish from inside the area after a cross from Ebanks-Blake, with our defence looking lost.

There wasn't much of a response from us - Stephen Hughes hit the wall from a free-kick, and Julian Gray headed wide, but we weren't getting the ball through to Michael Mifsud and the closest he came to making an impact in the first half was getting himself brought down in a futile attempt to earn a penalty.

Plymouth had a couple of further chances in the half, and at the back, Isaac Osbourne and Ben Turner were looking a bit of a liability. At half-time we went in a goal down, and few could have argued with that, as we had not managed a single shot on target.

After the break it was more of the same. Marshall made save after save, from Lee Martin, and then from the experienced Barry Hayles' header.

The ineffective Robbie Simpson was replaced by Dele Adbola, and although he held up the ball well, the big man still couldn't bring Mifsud into the game.

While Marshall's goalmouth heroics kept the score at 1-0 we had a chance, and there were a couple of late set-pieces, none of which we made count.

A late header from Turner from a corner saw us actually force a save, and sub Kevin Kyle headed wide at the death, but we had really not shown much upfront at all today, even when playing with three strikers.

Plymouth closed out the game professionally enough, and continued their good recent record against us. But these are not the sort of fixtures we should be losing if we are serious about being a top-six side.

Much to ponder on the long journey home then.

City turned in a solid performance at Molineux, more than matching the hosts over 90 minutes, but fell victim to a late sucker punch.

It was pretty typical of the sort of goal we've conceded at critical times over the last 10 years - an unlikely strike from a defender against the run of play - but they all count.

We started brightly, with inform Michael Mifsud having a shot saved, and Dele Adebola also went close a couple of times in the first half.

Wolves' Andy Keogh had a shot easily saved by Andy Marshall, and there were a few attacks that came to nothing from the hosts, but we generally looked very comfortable - defensively more so than have for the most part this season, now that we're fielding the same back four on a regular basis, albeit a surprising one.

It was a combative game, and Wolves were unfortunate to lose a couple of players to injury early on, including their keeper, though not as the result of anything vicious. As we didn't have a substitute keeper on the bench today, it was a worrying reminder of what can happen to change games.

Late in the half, we fired a load of long range shots at the sub keeper Graham Stack, but Stephen Hughes and Micky Doyle couldn't find a way past him from distance.

It's possibly fair to say that Wolves had fewer but more clear-cut chances, and the half ended with Marshall saving well from Kightly.

At half time the 0-0 scoreline did look a little as though it might last the whole 90 minutes.

After the break we raised our game - Mifsud and Hughes both had efforts saved, and Hughes was unlucky not to score, having mustered several shots on goal during the game, and playing with a confidence not seen since his first season with us.

Sub defender Neill Collins then blocked a goalbound effort from Robbie Simpson, before Doyle squandered the best chance of the game when Jay Tabb found him completely unmarked with loads of space, but he shot wide when it seemed easier to score.

The home side had done pretty much nothing but defend in the second half, but they nicked it undeservedly at the death, as Kightly's late corner was headed in by Collins deep into stoppage time.

If only we had taken one of our many chances, we could have come away from this with a narrow win rather than a narrow defeat, but then we've never been the luckiest team in the world.

Unfortunately playing quite well and losing is not compatible with winning promotion.

The Sky Blues ended a run of four league games without a win with a tremendous fightback against a hardworking Blackpool side that had inevitably taken the lead through former City striker Andy Morrell.

And once again it was Michael Mifsud who inspired the repost - the Maltese Mosquito is fast achieving cult status as one of our best strikers for years.

Iain Dowie elected not to mess too much with a side that has been winning of late, but there was a place for Isaac Osbourne at right-back, perhaps surprisingly, as it isn't his native position.

The attendance was very low by Ricoh standards - even for a midweek game - although Blackpool brought a reasonable following, the Tangerines electing not to stay in their hometown for the Tory Conference.

The current attack plan of Mifsud, and Robbie Simpson flanking target-man Leon Best got to work early on. Best had a header go wide, Mifsud found the side netting, and Simpson had a shot saved.

But Blackpool have been hard to beat lately, and in Morrell have a potent attacking threat. This was evident when they had a decent little spell after absorbing the early pressure, and eventually took the lead.

The goal came from a free-kick that was swung into the box, and Morrell glanced a header past Andy Marshall to give the visitors a lead - and respectfully, the former Sky Blues player chose not to ostentatiously celebrate his goal.

But we equalised before half-time, thanks to our first penalty award of the season. It was Mifsud - who else? - who was brought down after surging into the Seasiders area and the referee pointed to the spot.

Micky Doyle went for power, and although the keeper guessed correctly, he could not get to the ball, and it was 1-1 at the interval.

In the second half we took control of the game and deservedly went on to win.

Leon Best has looked tired lately, and the introduction of Dele Adebola gave us more presence in the air upfront. And it was Big Dele who played Mifsud through for the decisive goal.

The keeper came off his line, but Mifsud's pace and energy is matched by a coolness in front of goal, and he confidently poked the ball under the keepers body and into the back of the net to make it 2-1.

The decisive goal was no more than our efforts deserved, and it got harder for the visitors when Adebola recieved a long ball just outside the area, and the last man brought him down, leading to a straight red card.

Stephen Hughes shot over from the resulting free-kick, but a third goal did come along to wrap up the game soon enough.

Osbourne's corner caused a goalmouth meleé from which Elliott Ward had a close-range shot saved by the keeper, and Robbie Simpson's header from the rebound cleared from under the crossbar, but the linesman ruled that it was indeed a goal - Simpson's first in League football!

Late on there were further chances for Mifsud and Adebola, as we could have won by an even larger scoreline.

This is a game that we needed to win to keep our early-season league push alive in tandem with our Carling Cup run, and we managed to do just that.