Coventry City 1 Southampton 2

Dominant for an hour against the leaders of the Championship it ended up as a familiar story for Coventry City as they allowed Southampton to take their place in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Saturday afternoon.

Inspired by Gary McSheffrey, who put the Sky Blues in front after just five minutes, the home side wasted numerous good positions, especially from wide areas with their lack of options up front clear for all to see.

The Saints capitalised with two goals as City simply fell apart to leave manager Andy Thorn fuming afterwards at the manner in which his side threw away the game.

"We need men, we don't need shrinking violets," said the boss. "We were not as manly as we could have been.

"Both were soft goals to concede. My son, Jack, is 10 years old and he could have scored both of them.

"You have to have the desire to want to win the ball in our box which we didn't on both goals. You can't accept things like that. If I was a player in the dressing room, I wouldn't if my team-mates were prepared to do that.

"We have to concentrate for 90 minutes, we can't switch off otherwise all the hard work we have put in goes to waste. That is what's most frustrating. It isn't like we don't work on it because we do all the time. We have to learn fast."

With the possible financial boost of a cup run now gone it leaves just a relegation fight, speculation over the future of the club and possible player sales in January to come.

Southampton boss Nigel Adkins said afterwards: "To win this game was important for us all and we've got to try and endeavour to make sure there is a pathway there for the youngsters, deal with injuries and suspensions that every club has so I never use that as an excuse, but this is a great victory so well done, we got into the hat."

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