A SWANS DIVE FOR SKY BLUES; Fine league start ends at Ricoh.

Byline: LEE CORDEN

COVENTRY 0 SWANSEA CITY 1 Williams 69 mins COVENTRY City were brought back to earth with a bump as Chris Coleman's unbeaten Championship start to the season was ended by the City manager's hometown club Swansea City.

The clash hinged on a 14th minute penalty miss by otherwise impressive midfielder Sammy Clingan. The man signed from Norwich City in the summer pulled his penalty horribly wide of the post and the Sky Blues never really recovered.

And they paid the price in the second half when some indecisive defending led to Ashley Williams firing the visitors' winning goal.

Coleman refused to blame the penalty and instead pointed to a wider underperformance from a side that had taken seven points from their first three games.

The Coventry manager pointed out, however, that it might have brought a sense of realism to those who were getting carried away by the impressive start.

"Somebody asked me if this was going to be Coventry's year after only three games," said Coleman.

"I just thought: what are you talking about? "But we were three unbeaten and had only lost once in pre-season so we haven't tasted defeat that much recently. It's not a nice feeling because I know we can do better.

Penalty "We didn't lose the game because of the penalty.

"If we had been on the front foot in this game, we would have got a result.

"That is no disrespect to Swansea because they play good football and have a good manager but we can be better that but had one or two under-performing.

"We hope to add another face on Monday or Tuesday to put pressure on one or two of our lads.

"There might be some surprises but I am not having a go because they have been giving me everything at the start of this season."

The Sky Blues were on the back foot in the opening ten minutes and twice had to rely on excellent defending from Martin Cranie to keep out Swansea.

But the home side burst into life in the 11th minute when a good move involving Leon Best and Clinton Morrison led to Isaac Osbourne crossing to the near post but Best directed his shot into the side netting.

Clingan should have opened his goals account with Coventry in the 14th minute when Andrea Orlandi was penalised for handling Aron Gunnarsson's long throw in the box.

But he dragged his spot-kick wide of the Swansea post.

Coventry came close again in the 17th minute when Stephen Wright whipped in a right wing cross but Best's header was saved by Dorus De Vries.

Swansea were playing neat football but their end product was a little short on quality as they struggled to make Keiren Westwood work.

Mark Gower was a constant threat for Swansea and his free-kick in the 28th minute set-up a good shooting chance for Orlandi and, although he caught the ball sweetly, it was straight at Westwood.

Coleman's team ended the first-half strongly as Morrison headed just over the bar from Ben Turner's well-guided knock down.

That was followed by a good move - started by a great piece of great defending by skipper Wright - which saw Michael McIndoe shoot low but it was an easy save for De Vries.

Chad Bond should have scored on his debut in first half injury time but he headed wide when he was left alone in the box from Orlandi's cross.

The home side made a stronger start to the second half but lacked cutting edge and paid the price at the other end.

They failed to clear their lines on several occasions and, when Leon Britton acrobatically struck the bar in the 69th minute, Coventry were second to react and Williams fired home from inside the box.

On-loan midfielder Jack Cork was hand-ea debut as a substitute by Coleman after signing on loan from Chelsea on Friday and he found space for a shot in the 71st minute but it was comfortable for De Vries.

Despite being one down, there was no massive sense of urgency from the home side and they struggled to create any clear cut chances for an equaliser.

Coleman threw on Leon McKenzie for his first appearance after a lengthy layoff with injury and Freddy Eastwood, who has been missing with illness.

McKenzie managed to force a late corner with a battling run but it came to nothing and Swansea held out for a relatively comfortable first win of the season. COVENTRY CITY (4-4-2): Westwood; Wright, Cranie, Turner, van Aanholt; Osbourne (Cork64), Clingan, Gunnarsson, McIndoe (McKenzie 85); Best (Eastwood 84), Morrison. Not used: Konstantopoulos, Eastwood, McKenzie, Cain, Grandison, Clarke.

SWANSEA CITY (4-5-1): De Vries; Rangel, Monk, Williams, Tate; Dyer, Britton, Orlandi (Lopez 70), Gower, Bond (Morgan 64); Dobbie (Pintado 77). Not used: Cornell, Painter, MacDonald, Collins.

STAR MAN: Stephen Wright

CAPTION(S):

VRIES COMPANY: Ben Turner is beaten to the ball by Swansea keeper Dorus De Vries; and (right) Coventry's Leon McKenzie is tackled by Nathan Dyer IN THE WRIGHT PLACE: Stephen Wright beats Mark Gower to the ball at the Ricoh Arena FAST FEET: Coventry's Clinton Morrison controls the ball; and (right) Aron Gunnarsson turns Swansea's Leon Britton