Coventry have only themselves to blame

After Arsenal and Coventry had shared a physical yet entertaining 2-2 draw at Highfield Road on Saturday, the Coventry City manager, Gordon Strachan, made a quick, brief appearance in the press room purely in order to castigate the referee, Steve Lodge.

It was not as if Strachan had much of a case against Lodge, who has certainly had better matches, but could hardly be said to have given Coventry nothing. Crucially, he gave them a penalty in the 65th minute after Patrick Vieira had handled and then been sent off for arguing, having already been booked for a foul.

Dion Dublin, set for a move to Middlesbrough after rejecting a new contract, duly earned Coventry a point; yet they had done well enough earlier to take all three. Missed chances and poor defending, rather than poor refereeing, denied them victory.

Perhaps Strachan was bitter about the game's second sending-off, in the 80th minute, when Lodge showed Coventry's Paul Williams the red card for bringing down Dennis Bergkamp a yard outside the penalty area.

This decision was harsh. True, Williams did catch Bergkamp's heel as he moved clear on to a through pass from Emmanuel Petit, but the Dutchman took another half-stride before going down. In fact Lodge is going to study a slow-motion video of the incident to see if the red card should stand.

On effort alone, Strachan was entitled to believe that his team deserved more than a point. Once Noel Whelan had given them the lead midway through the first half, beating David Seaman from close range after a brisk movement had thoroughly confused a ragged Arsenal defence, Coventry dominated the match until half-time.

Arsenal were helpless against the pace of Darren Huckerby. But having forced one fingertip save from David Seaman, Huckerby then wasted three more opportunities, and by the 58th minute Arsenal were in front.

First Bergkamp's keen anticipation enabled him to pounce on an aberrant back header from Williams before chipping the ball past Magnus Hedman. Then Nikolas Anelka forced the ball in after Hedman had dealt inadequately with a modest shot from Lee Dixon.

Coventry: Hedman, Burrows, Nilsson, Williams, Breen, Whelan, Telfer, Soltvedt, Boateng, Dublin, Huckerby. Subs Not Used: Ogrizovic, Shaw, Moldovan, Salako, Strachan. Sent Off: Williams (79). Booked: Whelan, Telfer. Goals: Whelan 21, Dublin 66 pen.

Arsenal: Seaman, Dixon, Winterburn, Vieira, Bould, Anelka (Boa Morte 82), Bergkamp, Keown (Grimandi 42), Parlour, Petit, Upson. Subs Not Used: Manninger, Wreh, Hughes. Sent Off: Vieira (65). Booked: Vieira, Grimandi, Parlour. Goals: Bergkamp 50, Anelka 57. Att: 22,864

Referee: S J Lodge (Barnsley).