Match Reports

The Sky Blues worrying run of defeats on the road continued at Turf Moor, despite a very good performance, as Chris Coleman's first away trip ended in disappointment and defeat to a pair of set-piece goals.

We dominated the early exchanges, with Julian Gray's shot blocked by Steven Caldwell, and then Leon Best volleying over when it looked easier to score.

The home side then forced a couple of successive corners, and from the second one, a goalmouth scramble ensued, and eventually the ball ended up in the back of the net as Andy Marshall was beaten by a scrappy shot from Chris McCann.

At the other end we looked to have equalised when Gray broke through and scored, but the goal was ruled out for offside.

Late in the half, Best shot wide when played in by Jay Tabb, and Michael Mifsud, having yet another quiet game, saw a tame effort saved, but we could not find an equaliser before the break, and we were unlucky to be behind.

There hadn't been much wrong with out performance, and we continued to play some decent football after the restart, with Mifsud capping a neat move by shooting narrowly over the bar.

Burnley's defending had been solid throughout, and keeper Jensen saved from Mifsud after the restart, as the Maltese forward got more into the game, though his confidence is slipping with his recent goal drought.

At only a goal down we were very much still in the game, though the ideas were running out. Robbie Simpson came on and we pushed three up front, but this gave Burnley chances on the break.

With five minutes to go it was all over. Defender Steven Caldwell came up for a corner and headed in a very rare goal (of the kind that isn't so rare against us, obviously) and at 2-0 we were out of it.

Chris Coleman has now seen his new team winning 2-0 at home, without playing particularly well, and then losing 2-0 away against a team not playing particularly well.

There are no easy answers in football.

New manager Chris Coleman got off to a fantastic start, as the Sky Blues battled to a win over Leicester for the first time in over seven years.

A decent home crowd was in optimistic mood as Coleman was introduced before the game, and for once, things then continued in positive fashion on the pitch as we kept a clean sheet for the third league game in a row at the Ricoh - much needed after last week's cup debacle.

But the match got off to a bizarre start, as an early clearance from Marcus Hall - playing in central defence today - hit captain Stephen Hughes square in the face.

Hughes was knocked out for several minutes, and was eventually replaced by Kevin Thornton, giving the fans favourite a chance to impress the new manager, though with Hughes in a worrying state.

Elliott Ward went close when a Dan Fox free-kick broke to him, and we've looked more like scoring goals from the defence in recent weeks.

And we did, albeit from the penalty spot, when Leon Best made a run into the Leicester area and was - perhaps harshly - ajudged to have been fouled.

But Ward wasn't complaining as he stepped up to dispatch his second penalty of the season to give us the lead.

Before the interval Best had another chance, and Jay Tabb saw his effort saved, while Leicester were restricted to long-range efforts. The half time mood was that the new era had started well!

The second half was an even affair, with Steve Howard twice forcing Andy Marshall into action, and the visitors forcing a couple of scary goalmouth scrambles.

But we looked threatening too, and Ward volleyed just over from a corner, while Thornton was impressing with his cunning and guile.

And we doubled our lead, when Thornton crossed for Best to slot home from inside the area. 2-0 up against a team with one of the best defences but weakest attacks in the division was a fairly emphatic position to be in, and the Coleman era had begun in fantastic fashion.

Michael Mifsud was having a quiet game, but he broke through late on, and could only poke his shot wide, before Hume forced Marshall into a late save, as we preserved our clean sheet.

Given our proximity to the relegation places, the result was much needed from a six-pointer, and if we can continue to keep clean sheets and grind out results, we'll be OK this season.

The fact that it was Leicester will make a lot of fans even happier, which makes it a very happy start indeed for Chris Coleman.

Everything that could go wrong did, as the managerless Sky Blues crashed out of the FA Cup, with the biggest ever crowd at the Ricoh Arena enduring the heaviest ever defeat.

A series of individual errors combined with extremely harsh refereeing to ensure that the Baggies had a very easy passage indeed to the Quarter Finals, while our season took another downward turn.

Despite all the pre-match hype and hope, we were under pressure right from the off. Zoltan Gera and Roman Bednar both had early chances go close, as our defence struggled to cope under pressure.

And they took the lead soon enough, when several West Brom players got goal-side of the defence from a throw-in. Perhaps not knowing the rules of football, we appealled for offside, while Bednar set up Chris Brunt to beat Andy Marshall with a close-range header.

For the remainder of the first half, it felt like a traditional competitive cup-tie. Micky Doyle pulled a grasscutter just wide of the goal after a free-kick on the edge of the area that was blocked, and Leon Best narrowly headed over from Marcus Hall's cross, as we looked to get back into the game.

Some players were underperforming, mind, with Michael Mifsud lacking the dynamism he showed in previous cup games this season, and both Robbie Simpson and Jay Tabb looking rather uncomfortable on the wings.

But the visitors had chances themselves, and Michael Hughes headed against his own bar when defending a free-kick. Still, at half-time we were still very much in with a shout.

Unfortunately, just as happened when we entertained West Brom here in the League, they ran riot after the interval, scoring four goals. And as in that game, we made things difficult by having a man sent off somewhat harshly.

Doyle's contact with Gera was minimal, but the Hungarian rolled around in mock agony, causing the referee to show a red card for an 'offence' that wasn't even worth a yellow.

Teams have come back from a goal and a man down, but we really shot ourselves in the foot when Arjan De Zeeuw played a back-pass to Marshall who gave the ball straight to Bednar. Needless to say, the grateful striker was able to score a simple goal, despite Marshall's best efforts to scramble back and make amends for his howler.

This pretty much killed off the contest, but it got worse when De Zeeuw was somewhat harshly judged to have handled, and Bednar dispatched the penalty.

The fourth and fifth came in rapid succession late on, with sub Ismael Miller netting from the edge of the area on a counter-attack, and then Gera walking the ball in, with us having long since given up.

With the home fans leaving in droves, Mifsud missed out on a late consolation, pulling his long-range effort just wide, and the final whistle couldn't come soon enough.

So, with the Cup dream shattered, whoever takes over as manager will now have to concentrate on a relegation battle, and if we play like this, it will probably be a losing battle.

Life after Dowie began with a strong defensive display and a hard-fought point, though while a clean sheet is very welcome, there was little sign of the attacking prowess we showed against Barnsley in our last home game. This was a bore draw in every sense.

We hadn't endured a goalless game all season, and there hadn't been one at the Ricoh since December 2006, but this game rarely looked like ending any other way.

Caretakers Frankie Bunn and John Harbin put their own stamp on the game with their team selections - back came fan's favourite Andy Marshall in goal, and Scott Dann was given his first start.

And the central defender, signed from Walsall on transfer deadline day, proved to be our best player, making successful tackle after tackle, keeping Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink at bay, and cleaning up everything at the back.

In the first half Michael Mifsud had a shot saved, and Leon Best's effort seemed to hit the arm of Tony Capaldi in the area, but no penalty was forthcoming.

Cardiff's best chance before the break fell to Paul Parry who saw his shot saved by Marshall, and defences were generally on top. With little football of note to discuss, the half-time buzz was far more interested with the rights and wrongs of dismissing Dowie, and speculation as to who might replace him.

After the inteveral, the visitors moved up a gear, and Marshall was the busier keeper, saving from Peter Whittingham right after the re-start, with Isaac Osbourne making a last-ditch tackle on Parry to clear the danger from the rebound.

That was to be the most dramatic moment of the game, and Cardiff then had a series of long-range efforts that amounted to very little serious threat.

We played more on the break in the second half but could have snatched victory - Julian Gray's cross almost resulted in an own goal, while sub Robbie Simpson had a deflected effort saved, and Dan Fox's free-kick caused some danger.

An interesting quirk of the new caretaker regime was the appearance of Wayne Andrews, although the 'impact sub' had little impact in truth.

This wasn't a classic game, but it's the sort of game that, under Iain Dowie, we might well have lost. Our new defensive signings are giving us more of an expectation that we can keep a clean sheet, and that has to be a good thing.

A strong second-half performance at Deepdale wasn't enough to rescue anything from the game, as we went down to an unlucky defeat in a close, scrappy contest that results in us being dragged right back into a relegation dogfight.

The winning goal came from a set-piece, with a central defender heading in the winner - why, oh why, oh why does this happen so often against us, and yet we never achieve it ourselves?

We have never won in the league at Deepdale, and got off to a shaky start. On his return from injury, Marcus Hall made some hurried clearances at the back, while Dimi Konstantopoulos was put under a bit of early pressure.

But the game was most notable for the performances of the linesmen - one who flagged for offside pretty much every single time a player made a run, and one who never ever raised his flag. Guess which way round they were?

With Robbie Simpson and Leon Best always falling foul of the flag, we didn't have a meaningful attack in the first half.

Mid-way through the half, Elliott Ward made a good strong tackle on Hawley, which saw us concede a corner, but this was to be the moment that things went badly wrong.

The corner was played short and a deep cross found the head of Sean St. Ledger who glanced a header into the back of the net from close range - a very rare goal for the player who had only scored twice previously in his career. Of course, when you don't score many you want to play against us...

Preston forced a few more corners, and then Konstantopoulos had to save from a one-on-one situation with Chris Brown, and a powerful effort from Simon Whaley. The best we could manage was a speculative long-range shot from Isaac Osbourne that was well saved.

After the break we needed to improve, and we did. Unfortunately the woeful line-running continued, and we fell foul of some dreadful decisions. While, ironically, when Best was actually offside on one occasion the flag stayed down, and he very nearly scored.

Michael Mifsud was brought on for the ineffective Simpson, and his pace got the better of the Preston defence, but also meant that the linesman didn't have a hope of getting an accurate view.

Mifsud twice had shots saved. Jay Tabb should have done better after a one-two with best, and even Arjan de Zeeuw went close from a goalmouth scramble that just lacked a final killer touch before St. Ledger was able to clear. Another disappointing decision was a blatant backpass that ought to have yielded a free-kick inside the penalty area, but was yet another thing missed by the appalling officials.

Late on, St. Ledger almost scored a conspiratorial second for the home side, but Konstantopoulos saved.

We probably ought to have scored in this game, and it could easily have been 1-1 or even 1-0 to us. Unfortunately, given Preston's position right behind us in the league, it's a defeat that could prove very costly indeed.

Groundhog Day - thankfully - saw the repeat of a recent tradtion: the big Coventry win over Barnsley, and this emphatic victory comes just as we were in severe danger of falling into the bottom three.

The man of the moment is now Leon Best, who seemed almost certain to leave after handing in a transfer request, but our reward for rejecting all the bids for him was all too obvious today.

Right from the start, Best looked very lively and narrowly headed over a pinpoint left-wing cross from Julian Gray.

Transfer window signing Dan Fox looked a quality player at left-back on his home debut, and his set-pieces will surely give us an improved goal haul from free-kicks and corners from now on.

Barnsley are poor travellers, and they had done well to keep us out until the 37th minute, before Best opened the scoring.

Fox's deep cross was headed down by Jay Tabb and Leon Best steadied himself before turning and rifling home from just inside the area to give us a deserved lead.

Shortly before half-time the visitors rallied, and Dimi Konstantopoulos had to save from Nardiello, but at the break we went in a goal to the good.

In the second half, we kept up the pressure, with Micky Doyle, Stephen Hughes and Dan Fox all chancing their luck from distance. Conversely, Michael Mifsud was having a fairly quiet game by his standards, but it didn't really matter.

We only had a one-goal lead, but that all changed mid-way through the second half when Best's cross from the right hit a Barnsley defender and broke to Gray who volleyed the ball in from very close range at the far post.

We were on fire now, and got a third when sub Robbie Simpson set up Best who headed against the bar, but Tabb was on hand to bury the rebound and kill off the game, amidst some truly dire defending from the visitors.

And it was 4-0 soon after, when Barnsley again failed to clear their lines, and Best bagged his second of the game from a tight angle.

Howard had a long-range shot saved by Dimi in the final moments, but we held on to our clean sheet, and Best was only denied a hat-trick by the offside flag, after a close-range finish.

The latter stages saw the debut of Scott Dann, and the newly signed defender will have much busier days than this!

In all, a highly satisfactory result and performance, and our most convincing win of the season. If only we could play Barnsley every week.