Westwood on City's Second Local game

Last updated : 23 March 2010 By Covsupport news service. RD

Many Coventry City fans man of the match, in the 2-2 draw against Leicester last Sunday, Keiren Westwood has spoken of the will of the team to continue where they finished the game and not revert back to the form they started with against the Foxes.

Westwood made several crucial saves to keep his team in with a chance of points and he is fully aware of the need to remain focused ahead of the Sky Blues second derby game in succession, this time at The Hawthorns when City take on second in the table West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

Westwood said, "Every game is different but we have got to take our second-half performance into tomorrow's game. We have to kick on again now because we lost to Cardiff and then came back from 2-0 down against Leicester and we have got to use it to drive us on. When we lost 4-1 at Newcastle we went to Palace and won so we have got to make this count."

Coventry boss Chris Coleman praised Westwood contribution in the game, saying: "If it hadn't been for Keiren we'd have lost when they counter attacked."

Westwood said: "I thought we deserved a point in the end. We weren't in the races in the first half and the gaffer let us know. He said what he needed to say, and that will stay in-house, but it needed to be said and gave us the kick start.

"We had a few words between ourselves at half time as well because we are a lot better than that and we know that, and we showed in the second half what a good team we are. I don't know why we started the way we did but the main thing is we came back and showed great team spirit and endeavour to get that goal to get us back in the game.

"It was a terrific goal from James, unbelievable technique, and that was just what we needed to kick start us.I suppose the draw was justice for the their second goal which a lot of people are saying wasn't over the line, but we had underlying issues at that stage anyway so it was irrelevant because we had still not started and there had been a lot of warning signs. but thankfully, we pulled our fingers out and we deserved what we got."

Even though Westwood was the closest player to the ball when it was adjudged to have crossed the line, he admitted, "To be honest I didn't get a decent look at it because I was too busy fuming at everyone and didn't see it. It was over the line a bit but not fully."

Westwood heaped praise on the travelling fans and hope for more of the same when they visit The Hawthorns on Saturday. He said, "Everyone could see the team spirit and work ethic to do well for the fans who sang and chanted all the way through, so they deserved the point as much as we did."

"We knew how big the game was for them and we needed the derby spark which we showed in the second half."