West Bromwich Albion manager Tony Mowbray refused to give excuses for his side's 4-2 home defeat by Coventry City.

He said: "I don't want to make excuses. Coventry played well. They were a team with plenty of energy about them. They have gone about the game in the right way.

"The red card for Paul Robinson didn't help - it could have been a turning point. Paul is a committed footballer and I don't think you can ever take that away from him.

"He wanted to win and wanted the team to show a little bit about what West Bromwich Albion are about. We challenged the players to go out second half and give the supporters a performance and they did but then Coventry got back into the game again.

"I can sit here all night and pontificate about what might have happened had it been 11 versus 11. We move on to the next game. Our players' work ethic and desire to keep going does not need to be questioned and I was chuffed to bits with them on the whole and the way they went about the job second half.

"Perhaps it was a bridge too far for them in the end. We showed enough character in the second half to show that is why we are a team at the top of the table and we showed enough quality to get back in the game and will show that again this season."

Coventry City assistant manager Tim Flowers was full of praise for his side. Flowers said: "We have got strange set of lads. They have given their heart and soul to this club since Iain and I came here.

"This has not been a good ground for us in history and that was a monumental effort. Iain thanked them for their single-mindedness over the last weeks and hopefully all this will come to a head soon. There are a lot of people who love this football club. The players work really hard at the Ricoh and at Ryton and have long since just decided to get on with all that."

He conceded Robinson's dismissal had been a turning point, saying: "Our lead had gone at that point and they were breaking us at regular intervals.

"At the time we were agonising of whether to bring a couple of players off the bench as some of the front three looked like they were tiring a bit. Then Robbo got sent off and it seemed to galvanise us."