POISED to dip into the loan and transfer market, Coventry City are a million miles away from this time last year when the club were subject to a transfer embargo and staring administration in the face.

Twelve months on and the club is in seemingly good health in terms of the finances, with ambitious new owners and an impressive young manager in charge of the team, complete with a clear plan in place to take the club forward.

But when one looks at the form book, results and Championship table, there is a distinct feeling of deja vu about the Sky Blues that defies all logic.

After all, who'd have thought that the so-called dream team of Clinton Morrison and Freddy Eastwood would struggle to get going, and that despite big changes in personnel the team's infuriating inconsistency would continue?

One measly win in the last seven games doesn't make for good reading and, looking at the fixture list, it could well get worse before it gets better.

First up is Sheffield Wednesday, a club not dissimilar to City in many ways, but recent history tells us that the Sky Blues will get nothing from Hillsborough given their woeful record of having failed to win in all five visits in this division.

COVENTRY CITY Under 18s enjoyed a fine 5-2 win over M69 rivals Leicester City Under 18s.

A double from Sean Jeffers along with strikes from Ashley Cain, Robert Ogleby and Sean Fraser wrapped up the three points for the Sky Blues youngsters at the Alan Higgs Centre on Saturday.

The win ensures the City youngsters retain second place in Premier Academy League Group B - keeping up the pressure on leaders Tottenham.

Coventry City: Quirke, Clarke (Bottomer 90), Hollist, Cameron, Wynter (Jones 86), Cain, Walker, Jeffers, Ogleby, Blackwell (Leluu 63)

THE RECENT dip in results, and more worryingly, performances, have once again shown that the Sky Blues are nowhere near where they want to be in terms of mounting a challenge in the Championship.

The rebuilding has started to take shape with some excellent new players in key positions, but all the ingredients for a consistent side are far from in place.

The January transfer window will hopefully see manager Chris Coleman take the next step by drafting in two or three new faces who will improve his current work in progress.

The priority has to be a decent winger - someone to feed Clinton Morrison who is currently being starved of any decent service into the box where he does what he does best.

The striker has been working tirelessly off the ball to get into positions but like most forwards in this division, they often need more than one chance to score, and all too often he is only getting one chance in games which is clearly not enough.

Coleman's chief scout Andy Thorn is scouring the UK and Europe for players and hopefully it won't be long before the club get a decent wide man to provide a steady supply of crosses, whether that be Gary McSheffrey when he is fit or whoever.

The injury to Leon McKenzie has probably had the biggest impact on the side this season, and we can only look forward to his return in a week or two.

It may take him a couple of games to get back in his stride, but if the Duke can get back to the impressive form he displayed prior to tearing his left thigh muscle, there should be an immediate improvement in results.

McKenzie was clearly enjoying his football and relished taking on his full-back and, more often than not, beating him in every game, so a fit McKenzie should be a real asset.

COVENTRY City stepped up their pursuit of £100,000-rated Shrewsbury centre-back
Kelvin Langmead on Friday and are confident of signing him in January.

Sky Blues boss Chris Coleman registered a fresh enquiry before the weekend about Langmead, 23, who is out of contract at the end of the season.

Langmead is unhappy at being in and out of the League Two team despite being rated as one of the division's best defenders, with Scunthorpe and Bradford also keen on him.

CRAIG Noone came off the bench to score his first goal in professional football and give Plymouth a narrow victory over Coventry City in their Coca-Cola Championship clash at the Ricoh Arena.

The 20-year-old midfielder was making only his fourth appearance in the Football League and lit up a dull encounter with the decisive goal in the 87th minute.

Coventry goalkeeper Keiren Westwood had earlier been forced to make a string of saves as Chris Coleman's men slipped to their fourth home league defeat of the season.

Emile Mpenza had the first real chance for Argyle in the 11th minute when he struck a long-range attempt at goal which was tipped around the post by the alert Westwood.

Coventry came to life five minutes later and striker Clinton Morrison created a shooting opportunity but failed to connect cleanly and saw his tame effort blocked by Plymouth defender Craig Cathcart.

Aron Gunnarsson pounced on the loose ball but the Iceland international could only screw his shot from the edge of the penalty area wide of goal.

Cathcart almost gave the visitors the lead in the 28th minute when he directed a superb header towards goal but Westwood was equal to it and made a smart save.