Coventry City 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 0

And, suddenly, everything in the garden was rosy. A third straight league win, the ninth match in a row at the Ricoh Arena without defeat and an evergreen midfielder scoring for fun.

Sky Blues' fans must be pinching themselves that they no longer need to wait for the second page of Teletext to see where their team are in the table.

It would have been typical Coventry if, after thrashing Derby and winning on the road at Hull, they had thrown it all away by coming unstuck against struggling Brighton.

But, despite being far from their best, they ground out a win to move up to the top half of the Championship and now have half-an-eye on a late surge for an unlikely playoff place.

Their change in fortunes is not all down to veteran midfielder Dennis Wise, but his contribution in his two-week Coventry career has been nothing short of sensational.

City's rise began just before Christmas when Don Hutchison, another old-stager in footballing terms, inspired them to three wins in a row to move them away from the relegation zone.

But since Wise's arrival, Adams's men have been unbeatable. He scored on his debut in the 6-1 mauling of Derby, fired an overhead kick to put them on their way to only their second away win in the league at Hull in midweek and then hit two to see off Brighton.

It was far from a classic display from Coventry. In fact, Brighton could have been in front in a first half they dominated. Alexandre Frutos struck the bar after just five minutes and strikers Jake Robinson and Gary Hart had chances to break the deadlock.

Winger Sebastien Carole gave Marcus Hall a torrid afternoon too and matched his fine wing-play with two skidding shots that forced Marton Fulop to make solid saves.

Robert Page and Ady Williams were having more to do than they would have anticipated but yet again proved a strong pairing behind the workhorses of Michael Doyle and Wise.

Doyle has been back to his best of late but this was a match that appeared to pass him by; just as it did for his older partner until he broke the deadlock against the run of play two minutes before the break.

Hall, who was glad to be in the attacking third instead of trying to shackle Carole, whipped in a stunning cross which Wise stooped to head past Wayne Henderson.

The goal set up a much more positive second half for the home side and substitute Andy Morrell and full-back Andy Whing shone as the game wore on.

Neither has been a regular, but both did their chances of starting in the cup replay at Middlesbrough this week the world of good as they combined well on the right wing.

Wise was in the right place at the right time to fire home his fourth goal in three games and won over any of the few remaining doubters.

Some had questioned his signing on a free transfer because of his age and his disciplinary track record but such has been his impact, City are now desperate to convince him to stay on beyond the end of the season.

Coventry's assistant manager Adrian Heath and team-mate Dele Adebola reckon Wise is already closing in on legendary status after just a fortnight with the club. If he can inspire them to a win at the Riverside on Wednesday and help maintain their current league form, they may well be right.