Bristol City 1-0 Coventry City: Rob Dickie's first Robins goal earns three points

Rob Dickie (second right) heads in his first Bristol City goal

Rob Dickie's first Bristol City goal gave the Robins a much-needed victory over in-form Coventry City.

The defender headed home a free-kick in first-half added time to end a run of three defeats in their previous four games.

That goal came against the run of play as the visitors had dominated the first half, twice hitting the bar and having top scorer Matt Godden miss a great chance.

The Robins dug in during a more even second half to secure only their second clean sheet in ten games.

This was the meeting of the Championship's two longest-serving managers and after both teams had an inconsistent start to the season, both were in need of a win.

Nigel Pearson's Robins were without a victory in five, and Mark Robins' side's impressive statistic of only three defeats in 28 matches hid the fact that half of them had been draws.

Those three defeats had all come against teams with the "City" suffix - Stoke, Leicester and Cardiff - and Bristol duly added to that collection after surviving a Sky Blue storm for the opening 45 minutes.

Tatsuhiro Sakamoto had a shot turned over the bar by Bristol goalkeeper Max O'Leary and Ben Sheaf's drive from distance hit the crossbar as Coventry began well.

Ellis Simms' woes in front of goal since his move to Coventry in the summer continued as he dragged a big chance wide from Sakamoto's set-up, and leading scorer Godden skimmed the bar and fired another great opportunity wide as the away side continued to push hard.

A tactical switch by Pearson before half-time paid dividends, with Jason Knight replacing Haydon Roberts as the Robins changed to a 4-2-3-1 system.

In added time, Knight's dribble ended in a free kick, which West Brom loanee Taylor Gardner-Hickman planted on the head of Dickie at the far post to give the home side an undeserved lead.

Coventry once again laid siege to the Robins goal in the closing stages but goalscorer Dickie saved one at the other end with a superb challenge to deny Yasin Ayari and deliver only his team's second clean sheet in ten games.

The victory moves the Robins to eighth in the table and a point outside the play-off places, with Coventry in 16th.

Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson told BBC Radio Bristol:

"It keeps us in contact with the top six and every game you play at this level is hard-fought.

"In the first half we were second-best, mostly, and struggled to get any sort of rhythm, but we made sure we were competitive throughout even if we weren't particularly playing very well.

"I'm pleased with the end product today, which is three points and in a season where the margins for error are quite small it's an important win for us.

On the tactical switch: "It's pretty obvious that was a game-changer. We had wanted two up front against their back three but unfortunately our front two didn't really have the impact we would expect, which puts into perspective where they are, both very young and a work in progress.

"When we changed the formation to what we have been for a long time now, it looked more effective, but you have to factor in the contributions of people like Andi Weimann, and I think Jason Knight showed his value to us when he came on."

Coventry manager Mark Robins told BBC Radio CWR:

"I'm disappointed with the scoreline, but that's all I'm disappointed with. The performance was absolutely top drawer.

"We were brilliant. The only thing we didn't do was take one of those chances, and if we had taken one, the game is totally, totally different.

"We are a work in progress and this is the Championship in a nutshell. We have to learn from it, to be sharper and more ruthless when the chances come.

"Ben Sheaf's hit the crossbar, Matty Godden has hit the crossbar, we've had another one that flashed wide … so many different opportunities to take the lead and we haven't taken one of them.

"We should be talking about a brilliant away performance but it's difficult to do that when you've conceded a rubbish goal."

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