Tension boils over after Coventry draws at Saints
EFL Championship leader Coventry City dropped points for the third time in four games after it hung on for a 1-1 draw against Southampton.
Ephron Mason-Clark put Frank Lampard's side ahead just before the break, but a straight red card for Jay Dasilva in the 47th minute complicated things for the visitors.
Nathan Wood levelled proceedings soon after, but the Saints were unable to find a winner at home.
Tensions boiled over at the final whistle with both sets of players and staff coming together in the centre circle as a number of pushes appeared to be exchanged, with Lampard appearing to be the target of the Saints players' anger.
Nevertheless, Coventry still extended its lead at the Championship summit to six points after second-place Middlesbrough lost 2-0 at Bristol City.
Southampton boss Tonda Eckert was disppointed his side couldn't finish off the visitors.
"Today it's disappointment because I think the chances were there to come away with three points," he said.
"I think they kept a back four for quite long after they got the red card and it was a little bit easier because we had space then on the sides to drive.
"But when they went to a back-five, it was a little bit different. I still think we got in some very promising positions. Maybe not enough personnel in the final moments but it's a good team and we managed to play the whole game in their half.
"I think there were more than enough chances to win the game in the end."
Lampard bemoaned a difficult preparation for the game but praised his players for dealing with the adversity.
"Considering the game prep we've had with people falling ill in the last couple of days and some players have played slightly below par as well but you wouldn't have noticed that,' he said.
"Then the context of the red card, the decisions in the first half, but our spirit, our effort, our desire to try to hang on to what we had at the end of the game was very special.
"I'm delighted with the performance, I'm delighted with the point considering we had 10 men in the second half."
































