Patience wanted in pressure zone

Coventry City 0 Blackburn Rovers

The football boom seems more and more to be a mixed blessing for managers. With it have come increased expectations, and crowds who won't put up with failure for long. "Lose two matches and the supporters start to get nervous," said Ray Harford, the Blackburn manager, after this disjointed encounter at Highfield Road on Saturday. "That transmits itself to the players, and then they get nervous."

A charitable explanation perhaps, but surely it is a bit early in the season for chants of "What a load of rubbish", which was what the Coventry players were treated to as they left the field. Ron Atkinson's insistence that "if the crowd stick with us, we'll turn the corner" was that of a man who clearly felt let down by their response.

Harford believes the pressure is now such that - for struggling teams, at any rate - it is easier playing away than at home. Certainly Blackburn were the more composed, and even though they are still bottom of the Premiership and the only team in the division without a win, a second successive draw was not a bad result for them, nor, under the circumstances, was it a bad performance.

Apart from a 15-minute spell leading up to half-time, they had the match largely under control, and if Chris Sutton had been able to shoot as well as he found space in dangerous positions, their signs of progress would have been more tangible. What Blackburn did not need was a fresh crop of injuries. Chris Coleman could be out for the rest of the season after rupturing his Achilles tendon towards the end of the match, and Kevin Gallacher went off with a pulled hamstring.

Coventry, who slipped to second from bottom, appeared to have more work to do to get things right. Although they could point to the marginally better chances, the basics of passing and movement were often beyond them. Recovery could take time - but will the crowd let them have it?

Coventry City (4-4-2): Ogrizovic; Borrows, Daish, Burrows, Hall; Telfer, McAllister, Richardson, Salako; Whelan, Dublin. Substitutes not used: Jess, Shaw, Ducros, Genaux, Filan (gk).

Blackburn Rovers (4-4-1-1): Flowers; Marker, Hendry, Coleman (Ripley, 78), Croft; Donis, Bohinen, Sherwood, Wilcox (McKinlay, 84); Gallacher (Fenton, 41); Sutton. Substitutes not used: Given (gk), Broomes. Referee: J Winter (Cleveland).

Bookings: Blackburn: Marker.

Man of the match: Bohinen.

Attendance: 17,032.