Frank Lampard keen to ‘take positives’ from first defeat as Coventry boss

Coventry boss Frank Lampard insists he will “take the positives” from his side’s 2-0 loss to West Brom which handed him a first defeat in charge.

West Brom hit the front in the 11th minute courtesy of their second deflected goal in the space of a week when Alex Mowatt’s drive from range diverted off Josh Eccles and into the net.

Coventry had 16 shots but missed great chances through Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Norman Bassette and Victor Torp to stop them from levelling things up before Karlan Grant sealed the win against the run of play.

Lampard has only been in the job 12 days but was encouraged with the way his new side are picking up his ideas.

Frank Lampard

He said: “We have to take the positives out of it because we have to, in this league games come thick and fast.

“It’s early days. There were periods of intensity and what we are trying to do. I felt I saw bits of that but won’t get carried away.

“It’s not the team I want it to be yet. We have work to do but we have been effective in the work we’ve done in the two weeks.

“They (players) shouldn’t drop their heads, they must absolutely take confidence from the good things.

“Some defeats hit you in different ways, it’s not nice because you want to win games but at this stage we have to focus on that to keep confidence and build confidence because of where we are in the league, we want to be higher.”

Following a draw and victory over Cardiff and Millwall respectively, Lampard was happy with the way his side performed against a side who are now in a play-off position.

He added: “We were good in parts of the game but lose it and that’s the reality.

“Till that point (Grant’s goal), Brad (Collins) isn’t making saves and it’s important we see that side of it because its easy to look loosely that it’s a defeat these are a strong team and we know that, a top-six team.

“We more than matched them in general play and being clinical is key, the players know that. When you’re creating it’s a positive, finishing is the most important bit but we need to get that right.”

Carlos Corberan

Carlos Corberan admitted his team did not perform to the best of their ability but says the result is most important.

“The result was important for us,” he said. “It’s true we managed some moments well in the game, fortunately they couldn’t score.

“I think the first half after we scored we lost the middle of the pitch – we didn’t manage some aspects well which gave them the opportunity to cross.

“All the effort we are doing are not coming with results, we know for everyone the results are most important but we are not going to find excuses we want to find a way to improve this team and give what this club deserve.”

MATCH REPORT: West Brom deliver Frank Lampard’s first defeat as Coventry boss