Coventry boss Frank Lampard delighted with win over Stoke

Coventry manager Frank Lampard described his side’s last-gasp 2-1 victory over Stoke as one of the best home performances of the season.

Haji Wright headed the league leaders ahead before Ben Gibson equalised on the stroke of half-time with what proved to be Stoke’s only shot on target.

Jack Rudoni capitalised on a late error from the onrushing Tommy Simkin to put Coventry eight points clear of second-placed Middlesbrough, who travel to Birmingham on Monday.

“We were fantastic today,” said Lampard. “One of our best home performances from the first minute. We should have been two or three goals ahead at half-time for our play, but football sometimes kicks you where you don’t want it to.

“They get a free-kick in their own half, launch it in the box, get their first corner and score and that’s obviously disheartening.

“But the performance in the first half was brilliant. There was no answer to what we were doing for them.

“You just start to worry when the game goes on and we play that well and it’s 1-1, but yeah, the character of the team to get it over the line in the end and get what we fully deserved was brilliant.”

Stoke manager Mark Robins admitted his side deserved nothing from the game as he suffered defeat against his former club for the third time in three league matches since departing the CBS Arena.

Robins said: “We didn’t deserve anything for the way we were in the first half. We were poor. Having said that, we get back in the game through a bit of luck.

“From our point of view, we didn’t get close enough to them so we had to alter things. That got us a bit more of a foothold in the game.

“Awful game, but it was a game where you’ve got to lift balls in behind them and run, get crosses in where you can, it just doesn’t resemble anything that we do.

“We get to two minutes before the end of the game at 1-1 and to conjure up a defeat is an absolute joke, and that comes from a number of factors.

“Primarily, a young goalkeeper, but you’ve got experience in front of him who have to deal with it. He made brilliant saves, some really good decisions, but then occasionally gets one wrong, he needs help with that, he will learn.

“First half we didn’t get near anybody, but second half we were a little bit better and you expect to see the game out at that stage but not us.

“We took part in the game second half. First half we were bystanders, didn’t get near them, and they could have been two or three goals up.

“We make errors that no other team in the division makes.”