Match ends, Coventry City 0, Burton Albion 2.
CoventryCoventry City0BurtonBurton Albion2
Burton remained top of League One after beating promotion rivals Coventry.
Visiting keeper Jon McLaughlin twice denied James Maddison in the first half, while Damien McCrory tested home stopper Reice Charles-Cook.
But early in the second half Calum Butcher opened the scoring when he capitalised on a defensive error.
Albion's Stuart Beavon hit the bar but then made no mistake in the 72nd minute when he latched onto Anthony O'Connor's long ball before coolly finishing.
City's failure to win at home against League One promotion rivals for the second time in five days, following the 1-1 midweek draw with Walsall, now leaves them four points shy of an automatic promotion place.
Sky Blues boss Tony Mowbray told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire:
"Well done to them. It's difficult for us to take. It was going to be decided by a mistake. We knew that by half-time.
"A mistake cost us ultimately. We're talking about concentration. We knew it was going to be difficult to get back into it.
"We have to put it behind us very quickly, focus on the next game, and get back to winning ways as soon as we can."
Burton boss Nigel Clough told BBC Radio Derby:
"We were nervous early on. We had this problem for the Doncaster game in December when we hadn't played for a while.
"It took us a while to get going and it did again. Jon McLaughlin had to make a couple of very good saves in the first half.
"But we were much much better in the second half. We scored the two goals, hit the bar and restricted them to very little."
Line-ups
Coventry
Formation 4-2-3-1
- 23Charles-Cook
- 17PhillipsSubstituted forBigirimanaat 58'minutes
- 22Ramage
- 18Ricketts
- 3Stokes
- 4VincelotBooked at 81mins
- 7FleckBooked at 55mins
- 8LameirasSubstituted forTudgayat 58'minutes
- 10MaddisonSubstituted forColeat 74'minutes
- 25Murphy
- 9A Armstrong
Substitutes
- 1Burge
- 11O'Brien
- 14Cole
- 19Bigirimana
- 20Tudgay
- 26Haynes
- 32Fortuné
Burton
Formation 4-1-4-1
- 1McLaughlin
- 2Edwards
- 4MousinhoBooked at 25mins
- 3Cansdell-SherriffBooked at 70mins
- 14McCrory
- 19O'Connor
- 21Duffy
- 12ButcherSubstituted forReillyat 78'minutes
- 15Naylor
- 11El KhayatiSubstituted forAkinsat 62'minutes
- 9BeavonSubstituted forBennettat 80'minutes
Substitutes
- 7Reilly
- 10Akins
- 17Myers-Harness
- 20Thiele
- 23Palmer
- 31Bywater
- 33Bennett
- Referee:
- Andre Marriner
- Attendance:
- 17,140
Match Stats
Home TeamCoventryAway TeamBurton
- Possession
- Home55%
- Away45%
- Shots
- Home14
- Away7
- Shots on Target
- Home7
- Away3
- Corners
- Home7
- Away8
- Fouls
- Home9
- Away15
Live Text
Post update
Full Time
Second Half ends, Coventry City 0, Burton Albion 2.
Post update
Corner, Burton Albion. Conceded by Peter Ramage.
Post update
Anthony O'Connor (Burton Albion) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Post update
Foul by Marcus Tudgay (Coventry City).
Post update
Corner, Coventry City. Conceded by Philip Edwards.
Post update
Foul by Marcus Tudgay (Coventry City).
Post update
Damien McCrory (Burton Albion) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Foul by Sam Ricketts (Coventry City).
Post update
Lucas Akins (Burton Albion) wins a free kick on the left wing.
Booking
Romain Vincelot (Coventry City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Post update
Foul by Romain Vincelot (Coventry City).
Post update
Mason Bennett (Burton Albion) wins a free kick on the right wing.
Substitution
Substitution, Burton Albion. Mason Bennett replaces Stuart Beavon.
Substitution
Substitution, Burton Albion. Callum Reilly replaces Callum Butcher.
Post update
Romain Vincelot (Coventry City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
Post update
Foul by Lucas Akins (Burton Albion).
Post update
Corner, Coventry City. Conceded by Shane Cansdell-Sherriff.
Post update
Attempt saved. Adam Armstrong (Coventry City) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the bottom left corner.
Post update
Romain Vincelot (Coventry City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.
