Nimley scores one goal and had a hand in two in Coventry debut



Andy Thorn: The Coventry manager believes on-loan striker Alex Nimely has a big future ahead of him... .Andy Thorn was full of praise for new recruit Alex Nimely after the striker inspired Coventry to a much-needed 3-1 win over Middlesbrough.

Rock-bottom Coventry were indebted to their loanee from Man City - who scored one goal and had a hand in two - though Boro boss Tony Mowbray was left counting the cost of two red cards.

The visitors played the majority of the contest with 10 men, before being reduced to nine in injury-time, but Thorn preferred to focus on his star Nimely after the final whistle.

Thorn said: "People hadn't heard of Alex Nimely before today. Well they have heard of him now! He's a real talent this boy and I am so pleased that we could get him under the radar.

"There is still more to come from him but he gave us a different dimension and Clive Platt did really well for us. Gary McSheffrey was buzzing too.

Supporters

"I am desperate to do well for our supporters and I was pleased for them that we could score three and they can see with these additions where we are trying to go."

Middlesbrough had the best chances in the first half an hour but when Nimely and Platt combined to set up McSheffrey in the 36th minute, he gave Coventry the lead.

In the 57th minute, Nimely headed back over a group of players from 12 yards and it looped over the line with Rhys Williams trying desperately to clear.

Then Nimely and David Bell carved a chance for Platt in the 61st minute but he did not connect with the ball and it ran through to Matthew Bates, who turned into his own net.

Kevin Thomson saw red after he picked up a second booking in 10 minutes just before half-time and all the momentum was with the home side in the second half.

Boro's Scott McDonald reduced the deficit in the 66th minute before Julio Arca received his marching orders in injury time after a late tackle on Sammy Clingan.

Gentleman's agreement

It was a third straight defeat for the Teessiders as Mowbray left out Lukas Jutkiewicz, who signed from Coventry last week, after reaching a gentleman's agreement with Thorn.

The Boro boss said: "You live and die by those decisions. Jutkiewicz is with us for four and a half years not one week. I had a conversation with Andy 10 days ago when the deal was done."

He added: "It was hard to judge what the referee was going to do today. He let some really heavy stuff go for 15 minutes then all of a sudden he decided to give those two yellow cards.

"We gave the ball away in some bad areas to be honest but let's give them credit, rather than me being critical of my team.

"They are fighting for their lives and have come away with a result today albeit against 10 men for most of the match."