Paul Jewell’s Town got back to winning ways with a comfortable 3-0 live Sky victory over Coventry City at Portman Road. A Martin Cranie own goal opened the scoring in the first half with Keith Andrews adding the second soon after and Jason Scotland sealing it after the break.

Boss Jewell made one change from the team which lost at Blackpool nine days ago, Jason Scotland coming into the side alongside Michael Chopra.

In midfield, skipper Grant Leadbitter lined up at the most advanced point of a diamond with Lee Bowyer on he left, Keith Andrews on the right and Jimmy Bullard in the deeper central role. Coventry, who play a similar diamond, were unchanged from the side which started their victory over Derby last week.

In front of a sparse Portman Road crowd, left-back Aaron Cresswell struck the game’s first shot in the third minute, but failed to test Sky Blues keeper Joe Murphy from 30 yards, the ball screwing wide.

Four minutes later, the Liverpudlian, whose compensation terms from Tranmere were set by a tribunal last week, created the game’s opening goal. Andrews was fouled 30 yards out and quickly pushed the freekick wide to the left from where Cresswell whipped in a superb cross, which Martin Cranie diverted into his own net ahead of Jason Scotland.

The goal gave the Blues a much needed boost and on 12 it should have been two. A composed Town move ended with Edwards sending in a deep cross which Andrews headed back across the area to Chopra, who shanked his shot well wide in a Torres-esque manner when it seemed easier to score.

Two minutes later the ex-Cardiff man again had a decent chance when Leadbitter crossed low into his path but he again scuffed his strike.

A minute later and it was 2-0. Edwards’s cross from the right deflected to the influential Andrews on the edge of the area. The Irishman exchanged passes with Chopra before slamming the ball into the roof of the net for the fourth goal of his loan spell with the Blues in only his sixth game.

Town’s third might have followed in the 18th minute as Leadbitter broke after a Coventry corner but he slipped as he looked to cross to the unmarked Chopra and keeper Murphy gathered. Two minutes later Chopra shot narrowly wide from 20 yards with the Blues looking likely to add to the goals every time they went forward.

On 22 Chopra again went close when he flicked a Cresswell cross from the left just beyond Murphy’s far post with the Blues still well on top.

Former Canary Cody McDonald shot against Ibrahima Sonko from close range on 24, causing the Senegalese international to require treatment, and then from the second of two subsequent corners Cranie headed over as the Sky Blues finally made their mark as an attacking force.

But the Blues were soon on the offensive again, Bullard drawing a foul 10 yards outside the area as he brought the ball forward and ex-Canary David Bell picking up the game’s first booking from referee Craig Pawson. Bullard himself curled the freekick narrowly wide.

On 35 Sonko succumbed to his earlier knock, Damien Delaney taking over with Danny Collins moving to the right centre-back role.

After McDonald had found himself one-on-one against Stockdale but with a linesman’s flag having been raised, Andrews flicked a 41st minute Bullard corner from the left over.

The resurgent Leadbitter shot over from 30 yards after a long spell of Town possession as the half reached its final scheduled minute. Coventry swapped Gary McSheffrey for Gael Bigirimana.

Town had Cresswell to thank for preventing a Coventry goal moments before the whistle, the diminutive left-back having enough height to nod away McDonald’s powerful header from a corner on the right.

The Blues, looking sharper and passing the ball around at a greater tempo than usual, were good for their lead at the break and might even have had more goals if Michael Chopra had brought his shooting boots with him. Town’s experienced midfield schemers had much the better of their Coventry counterparts with Andrews and Leadbitter standout performers.

Full-backs Cresswell and Edwards broke forward unchecked on numerous occasions with the youngster’s delivery for the first goal particularly impressive.

As the half drew to a close the visitors started to make some headway and would have gone in only a goal behind but for Cresswell’s block.

Scotland scraped the second period’s first shot through to Murphy in the 48th minute, then at the other end McSheffrey lashed wildly over.

On 52 Bowyer came close to adding Town’s third after superb work from Leadbitter had found the former Birmingham man in space on the left of the area. The ball looked destined for the top corner when it struck Cyrus Christie in the face and flew wide.

The Sky Blues ought to have pulled a goal back in the 54th minute when Sammy Clingan sent in a freekick from the right and his fellow ex-Norwich man McDonald somehow headed into the ground and over from six yards out when he should have scored.

Andrews hammered wide from a freekick on 57 after Chopra had been fouled, the Irishman having held a lengthy discussion and what appeared to be a game of stone, paper, scissors with Bullard before Cresswell laid the ball short to him. At the other end, Edwards did well to dispossess McDonald with the Coventry man running in on Stockdale.

McDonald missed another good chance in the 63rd minute, McSheffrey heading back Lukas Jutkiewicz’s right-wing cross and the one-time Canary nodding wide.

The Blues were continuing to push forward and as a result were giving the visitors more than a few chances and by this stage were fortunate that none of them had resulted in a goal. On 65 another Coventry opportunity was cut out by an excellent Delaney challenge on Jutkiewicz.

But on 67 Jason Scotland made the game safe when he took the ball in from the Town left and exchanged a one-two with strike partner Chopra before holding off two defenders and curling a low shot to Murphy’s left and into the corner of the net for his second goal of the season.

Cresswell wasn’t far from a fourth on 71 with a low 35-yard freekick which Murphy pushed past the post. From the resultant corner, Bullard played the ball to the former Tranmere defender, but this time he failed to test the Sky Blues’ keeper.

On 82 Michael Chopra made way for Daryl Murphy, the former Cardiff man having come as close to scoring without hitting the net as is possible during the first period. Four minutes later Scotland received a huge ovation as he was replaced by Jay Emmanuel-Thomas.

Andrews went looking for his second of the night in the 87th minute after leaving a Coventry player sprawling in his wake, the on-loan Blackburn man lashing a low strike which Murphy pushed round the post

At the other end, the Blues again had Cresswell to thank after he stopped two attempts on goal by sub Roy O’Donovan with his head, after a Chris Hussey cross from the left. As the game moved into injury time, Emmanuel-Thomas scuffed wide and the visitors ended the match with 10 men with Carl Baker going off on a stretcher.

Town were good for their third victory of the season having carved out chance after chance in the first half, playing their best and sharpest football of the season. The half-time lead might have been more comfortable but for some less than clinical finishing.

After the break, Coventry had one or two opportunities which they ought to have taken with McDonald missing the best of them, but the Blues still looked a threat when going forward, passing the ball around with great confidence at times, Scotland taking his goal superbly.

One of the few disappointments on a rare good night for Town this season was the attendance of 15,650, the lowest home crowd for a league game this century. Norwich boss Paul Lambert and ex-Blue Mark Venus, Middlesbrough's assistant manager, were amongst them.

But overall Blues supporters will have wished for nothing better than a confidence-boosting 3-0 home win as Paul Jewell’s men go into a tricky run of games against some of the division’s leading lights.

Town: Stockdale, Edwards, Cresswell, Sonko (Delaney 35), Collins, Bowyer, Leadbitter, Andrews, Bullard, Chopra (Murphy 82), Scotland (Emmanuel-Thomas 87). Unused: Lee-Barrett, Ainsley.

Coventry: Murphy, Christie (Cameron 76), Hussey, Keogh, Cranie, Clingan, Bell, Bigirimana (McSheffrey 44), Baker, McDonald (O’Donovan 70), Jutkiewicz. Unused: Dunn, Thomas. Referee: Craig Pawson (South Yorkshire). Att: 15,650 (Coventry: 185).

Photo: Action Images

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