Head coach Frank Lampard singled out goalkeeper Carl Rushworth for special praise after Coventry’s hard-fought 1-0 win over Bristol City.
Ephron Mason-Clark’s 64th-minute strike proved decisive as the Championship leaders stretched their unbeaten home run to 10 matches.
The forward claimed his fourth goal of the season, tapping home from close range after Bobby Thomas’ header hit a post and Bristol City failed to clear the rebound.
But Lampard’s men were indebted to Rushworth for returning to winning ways at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
He produced a string of good saves in the final quarter of the contest to keep the visitors at bay, including an outstanding late stop to deny Fally Mayulu from point-blank range.
Lampard said: “The save at the end was fantastic – he (Rushworth) is showing himself to be a really high-level goalkeeper for us.
“He’s a top keeper, he trains brilliantly, he’s low maintenance and I think he’s enjoying it here and I enjoyed him today.”
It was Coventry’s seventh consecutive home victory and the result maintained their five-point cushion at the summit.
Lampard said: “The players’ attitude from minute one was really good, we started really sharp and continued that and we pushed them back.
“They are one of the highest pressing teams in the league. We played a lot of the game in their half and their threat came on the counter-attack.
“We were great, absolutely not our best performance but in the endurance test of a long season you have your comfortable wins, ones where you have to dig in and fight for the win – games like that, keep a clean sheet, get your goal and I think we showed a lot of spirit.”
On matchwinner Mason-Clark, Lampard said: “I’m delighted for Ephron. It was not a typical Ephron goal. I loved the way we kept the ball alive. It’s what you have to do in those moments from a set piece.
“We’ve scored a lot of beautiful goals this season but we’ve also scored those sort of goals. I love scrappy goals – they all count the same.”
Bristol City boss Gerhard Struber was pleased with his team’s spirited display but left frustrated at their lack of ruthlessness in front of goal.
“We deserved more from the game but, at the same time, we have to be super critical of ourselves,” said Struber, whose side are 11th in the Championship, four points shy of the play-off places.
“We put in a really good performance against the top team in the league and we were so close to picking up points but, in the most important moments we have to be sharper and more clinical to score goals.
“We had enough chances to go home with points. It’s frustrating to lose, especially because we put in a really good performance. The minimum we deserved today was a point.
“Small things in the end make the difference; I think we have played at a really good level in the last two weeks but we’ve not picked up the points that we would have liked.
“The difference between Coventry and us today was that they scored in a really good moment. We got into good positions but we didn’t take our chances.”
