Not much of a swansong

Reagan played a departing American Football coach who urged his players to put their bodies on the line for one last time and send him off happy.

It may have been a cheesy 1950s flick but there was no knocking the feel-good factor or the predictably happy ending.

When City were sent to Coventry last night perhaps they should have heeded similar orders to win this one for the "gaffer".

If this was to be the final match under Jim Jefferies - and the odds have been shortening ever since his trusty partner Billy Brown walked out on Friday night - then the players had the chance to give him a proper send-off.

But they must have cocked a deaf 'un to any pleas to make it a special farewell. Because last night was truly awful.

Jefferies will sit down for talks with chairman Geoffrey Richmond today which could well settle his future. By the time you read this far, he could have already hit the road back to Scotland.

On the other hand, there is also a chance he will remain at the controls for the home game against Sheffield United on Boxing Day. If that is the case, then his players have some serious making up to do.

With all the pre-match rumours flying around, it was inevitable a certain amount of edginess would creep into the dressing room. But whether Jefferies had intimated or not that this could be his final match, there was no excuse for the lily-livered surrender that followed Coventry's two-goal blast at the end of the first half.

Whatever the players may feel about the rumbling behind the scenes, they should have put up at least some semblance of defiance once the going got tough. After all, Coventry's form going into last night was creakier than City's with six defeats in eight.

Stuart McCall again stayed at home as Ashley Ward kept the captain's armband despite missing training all week with the injuries he picked up against Manchester City.

And after Aidan Davison had pulled off two good blocks to frustrate Lee Hughes, Ward had the easiest of chances to lead by example and fire the Bantams in front.

It was no more than four yards out, an absolute sitter, a real gimme. Nothing he will open on Christmas Day will come better gift-wrapped than that set up by Robbie Blake.

But Ward missed - somehow scooping the ball the wrong side of the post with Coventry keeper Magnus Hedman a helpless spectator.

Within three minutes, City had suffered the harshest possible punishment for that gaffe as Coventry hit back not once but twice.

Firstly Moroccan midfielder Youssef Safri sucked in the Bantams midfield before slipping an "eye of the needle" pass through the back four. Hughes was on to it in a sniff and slid it past Davison with the confidence of his West Brom days.

With home tails up, they promptly doubled their lead with a thunderbolt from David Thompson that hurtled over Davison and into the top corner.

Jefferies moaned: "The story of the first half was simple. In three minutes we should have been 1-0 up and found ourselves 2-0 down. That was the difference.

"At half-time we still felt if we got a goal back it would put them under pressure, we've been in that situation ourselves.

"It was important that we scored the third goal - but we gave it away needlessly through bad play. And after that our play deteriorated."

Coventry's third goal summed up City's slipshod display. Stephen Caldwell, who like central defensive partner Andy Tod had an unhappy night, got caught in two minds as he tried to deal with Youssef Chippo's midriff-height cross.

Instead of booting it clear, the on-loan Caldwell tried to chest it down and the ball ran away from him. Mills came in and was bundled over by the defender and Hughes greedily accepted the chance to swell his personal tally still further.

Gary Walsh had only been on the pitch for three minutes having replaced groin victim Aidan Davison. With Gunnar Halle already off on a stretcher after only 25 minutes with a gashed knee, things were going from bad to worse.

Matt Etherington headed wide and whipped a couple of tasty crosses along the six-yard box, but it was Coventry having all the fun as they moved into a play-off position which looks light years from the visitors on this evidence.

Walsh followed Davison's first-half heroics with a double save, tipping away Safri's angled blast and then scrambling up in time to smother Thompson with the rebound.

He also tipped away from Hughes who had left Tod floundering on the floor with a lightning turn in the box.

But Coventry's pressure deserved more and they got their reward nine minutes from time. Thompson, who ran the midfield, created it with a barn-storming run down the left wing.

Claus Jorgensen, on for Halle, tried a tackle but bounced off him as Thompson slid a cute low pass towards the Bantams goal where sub Julian Joachim hooked it in from Ward-like range.

Jefferies, his usual animated figure before the break, stood motionless outside his dug-out. If he was thinking about the future who could blame him - because the present certainly looked pretty horrible.