Coleman: We have to play from the first minute

Last updated : 29 March 2010 By Covsupport news service. RD

Coventry City manager Chris Coleman has reacted to the tendency of his side to start poorly in recent matches.

He told reporters,  "We made three tactical changes and it was a bit better second half. But we have to play from the first minute, not the 45th. We played here a couple of weeks ago against Cardiff and, had we won, we would have been in the top six."

"Instead, we lost late on and it was through no fault of our own, it was down to a decision from an official. That's taken its toll on us but we've spoken about the end to last season when we didn't win for seven or eight games and we can't have a repeat of that."

For the third game in a row, Coventry started the match badly and only the brilliant Keiren Westwood kept the Sky Blues in the game.

Westwood prevented Sheffield Wednesday from taking the lead in the fifth minute when he saved Darren Potter's low drive. A little later  Eddie Nolan took advantage of a Marcus Hall mistake and shot low, only to see Westwood palm the ball away to safety.

City boss Coleman reacted to the poor start by uncharacteristically making a triple substitution at half time. Coleman has often been criticised for making his substitutions too late to affect the outcome of the game, but on Saturday he replaced Stead with Bell, Hall with Hussey and Eastwood with Morrison.

Coleman said, "We made three changes and it got better - but we have to play from the first, not the 45th. We played here against Cardiff and, had we won, we would have been top six."

"That's taken it's toll. We have to avoid a repeat of the end to last season when we didn't win for seven or eight games."

City went behind with a very good Luke Varney goal from a  narrow angle in the 67th minute, but Coventry captain for the day Richard Wood, playing against his old team headed the equaliser 12 minutes later a goal which Wood did not celebrate despite being booed by Owls fans.