It's about time that we had a bit of luck on our side for a change! After being beaten by a blatant hand ball goal from Reading, Coventry were given a great start to the second half, and therefore added impetus for the rest of the game by a diabolical penalty decision for, apparently, a shirt pulling offence by Guy Butters. If a penalty was given every time that someone's shirt was pulled in the area, particularly from corners or free kicks, then most games would end up with goals into double figures. If Mark McGhee was Jose Mourhino, he would probably be alleging that Mickey Adams had been in to the referee's dressing room at half time for a cosy chat and a tiny request for a little bit of favouritism in the second half. He certainly would have been happy with that penalty after only two minutes, particularly as the referee was the only person in the ground who noticed an infringement. Listening to BBC WM's phone in on the way home, there certainly wasn't a single caller (or summariser) who could definitely say what it was given for. was it hand ball, pushing or shirt pulling? Who knows - even Mickey Adams admitted that he didn't have a clue and presumably he'd spoken to his own players before he gave an interview to the Radio station. Thanks for nothing Mr MG Cowburn - let's hope that we don't see you again for many a few years!

Driving to the ground took us past Coventry's new Arena which is almost finished, and most impressive it looked too. To be honest, Highfield Road isn't all that bad (but then compared to Withdean, nothing is) except for the menacing bouncers demanding £1 for entry to the away bar before the game (was that official or a supplement to their wages?) and the dazzling array of hot food left at half time - Pot Noodle anyone?!

We started the game with our two loan signings Blayney and Dolan replacing Shabaan and Hinshelwood, and a very bright start we had too. Coventry hardly got out of their own half for the first five or ten minutes and Hart and Butters both had half chances which went wide. The home side slowly forced their way back into the game but didn't really create much. Lloyd Dyer on their left wing was very fast and gave Reid some problems but he generally coped well. Butters was helping Dolan along at the back and Blayney was confident, particularly with crosses, but did occasionally appear to be following the Michel Kuipers art of kicking (i.e. out of play or miscuing!) We came back into the game a lot more again as the half progressed and won a free kick inside the box which came to nothing, played some good football but just lacked the final ball into the box, often due to a lack of decent options. McCammon and Virgo just didn't seem able to find much space. It was half an hour before Coventry made any sort of chance but it went wide and caused only a minor concern. Dyer continued to give problems down their left but we looked slightly the better team. McCammon got the ball into the net with his head but was given offside and a bit of pushing and shoving after Leon was fouled led to a booking for Big Mac and Coventry's Michael Doyle. Dolan's main memory of the first half may well have been the ball he got full in the face in added time of the first half, just as we were being pressured by a free kick into our area. 0-0 at half time was a satisfactory scoreline and the men of the first half for us would have to be Butters, Reid and Virgo.

The second half began with Coventry looking more like they wanted to win rather than wanting not to lose and then THAT penalty decision was given. Virgo got himself booked again with one of those frustrated tackles of his but that was all forgotten when he got the first decent through ball of the game from Gary Hart and stuck the ball into the bottom corner of the goal for the equaliser. The Albion 2,500 faithful went bonkers but one unfortunate guy who celebrated by climbing onto the wall around the pitch provoked angry scenes with the stewards and the police. It should be said that the Coventry supporters were very vocal throughout and were one of the noisier home followings that we've seen this year - truly the twelfth man for their team. In fact there were times when we were unusually quiet, but never for very long. The game changed when Coventry brought on Adebola and then Morrell and Benjamin as subs. They looked a lot more threatening up font and Blayney made some great stops to keep them out. Sad to say, their winner came from an unlikely source. The ball came though the middle of the pitch with no challenge from our midfield or defence and a one-two left Steve Staunton free to stick the winner into the net off of Blayney's left hand post. It was a real sickener - an inch to the left and it would have rebounded out to safety. We had one more chance to equalise immediately afterwards when Virgo couldn't quite get on the end of a McPhee cross but we don't make enough chances to realistically expect to always make a comeback.

Five defeats in a row has put us very much in trouble. This run seems to have occurred after we started talking about two more wins would see us safe. It was almost as if we relaxed, thinking that we would easily achieve that. At the moment, another six points this season seems distinctly difficult, particularly with an away trip to Preston to come next. But, that game will see the return of Chippy who has been greatly missed in the centre of the midfield, and we may just spring a surprise when it's least expected.