Saints boss on 'spirited' Sky Blues

Coventry City's fightback from two goals down briefly rocked Championship leaders Southampton on Saturday but ultimately the Saints eased to a 4-2 victory which keeps them five points clear at the top of the table.

The Sky Blues at least showed their pride after trailing in half-time two goals down and looking set to cop a morale-deflating hammering.

Andy Thorn praised the application shown by his men but felt the effort they put in to climb the mountain left them with nothing left for the summit.

'We showed real character and commitment to come back into the game which I was really pleased about but then it told on us and we got tired and that's when they capitalised.'

Visiting boss Nigel Adkins warned his side that the Sky Blues would come out fighting after the break and was pleased with how his table-toppers responded to the home comeback.

'At half-time we talked about concentrating from the beginning and low and behold within the first minute we gave a very spirited Coventry side an opportunity to score.

'One of our players had not marked the goalscorer, and it gives them a bit of a lift and the home crowd a bit of a lift.'

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