Memories of a great away win at Coventry's newly-built Meccano-esque stadium came flooding back as we prepared ourselves for the return game at the Circle.

Ah yes. A singing and celebrating performance to be proud of. And the football wasn't bad too.

There is little doubt now, however, that Coventry are a different team. They've been on a run, stayed in the FA Cup and climbed above us in the table.

And the main reason for this is Dennis Wise.

He is distinctly hateable, of course. That's the level of respect you need to show a 39 year old who has won domestic and European honours, represented his country at a major finals and wound up every player, supporter and manager to get in his way.

We have, of course, come a long way from the days when seeing a star footballer gently deflating his career to flat was the main attraction of a City fixture.

In fact, until the teams beep-beeped at me through my mobile, I'd forgotten Dennis Wise was even at Coventry and would more likely than not be playing for them. I was more concerned with what was going to happen to our right flank with Jason Price gone and rumours of one of those famed "disagreements" between player and manager which had supposedly extinguished Craig Fagan, the natural choice, as his replacement.

Instead, we got Kevin Ellison.

The most left-footed player the club has ever had.

More so than Ian Butler.

More so than Graeme Atkinson.

Leigh Jenkinson? Pat Heard? Neil Mann? Andy Holt? Yeah, more so than them too.

Kevin Ellison. On the right!

The only time his right foot is used at the expense of his left is when he pushes his accelerator.

The only person less suited to the right wing is Josef Stalin.

More to the point, Stuart Elliott has a better right foot than Ellison but he was the one who stayed on the left. There's always a problem accommodating these two, isn't there? And here was us thinking that Ellison was only ever going to be Elliott's deputy.

Mind you, Steve "hi, is that Darlington?" Harper once scored a hat-trick for us at the Ark while playing as a right sided left back. Stranger things could happen. You can never say it's not interesting when selections like these come up.

Few people of a Tigers bent seem to be fans of Ellison the player (his manager is one of them, though) but I'd like to think that many join me in admiring the guy's guts and bloody-mindedness. Away supporters don't treat him too cruelly - it depends on the circumstances (Wolves) - but there is an ugly, vitriolic, unforgiving element at the Circle who are on his back the moment the game starts, sometimes before. And he surely hears it.

Ellison's attitude, willingness, fitness and determination surpass wasters like Stuart Green, whose ability is far outweighed by cockiness and self-absorption, making him entirely useless. I'd take an Ellison over a Green all the time.

But for the right flank? Gulp.

Mr Taylor otherwise carded an unsurprising team for the visit of the Sky Blues. Boaz Myhill was protected by Ryan France, Leon Cort, Sam "captain" Collins and Damien Delaney; Ellison's right wing start made the midfield look decidedly unbalanced, but at least Elliott, Keith Andrews and John Welsh - hero of the Lego Stadium win - were in situ still; and we got a full debut for the introverted Darryl Duffy alongside Jon Parkin. Fagan didn't even make the bench.

Early stages were equal and run through the midfield. Then Parkin, relishing the hoots of 'Beeeeeeeeeeeast' from the East Stand, was scythed through the patellas by Wise.

Please remind yourself at this point that there is about a foot difference in height between the two.

It was like a contest between a sandblaster and a hairdryer.

Wise avoided a booking and patted Parkin on the head in patronising mock apology, without having to nip across to the West Stand to borrow some kid's milk crate.

Chances were traded; Jamie Scowcroft sliced one over the bar, and Coventry keeper Marton Fulop bashed away a Parkin header as the large gentleman sought his third goal in as many games.

City then sprung a lead when in truth, neither side had dominated the game to suggest that anything other than a goalless first half was justified. Duffy did some fine donkey work, running menacingly at the Coventry defence where his shot was blocked. The ricochet fell to Ellison at 25 yards and his powerful pop at goal again was kept out by pitch-diving Coventry bodies. This time the deflection went to a wider position where Elliott was waiting. Although a cross was expected, he took one touch and cleverly blasted inside Fulop's near post, with a pregnant pause enveloping the ground as we realised it wasn't the side netting. Then bedlam.

Elliott jogged triumphantly to the East Stand to do the "hire me a gymnastics teacher, quickly" cartwheel routine that remains just on the good side of crap (unlike Robbie Keane's) and every outfield City player came to join in, with the exception of Duffy who - just like his muted reaction after scoring at Stoke - walked calmly back to the centre circle with an air of the job being done. Maybe he's taking a while to mix, but the lad can certainly play.

By this time, Wise had been booked for aiming a stray set of studs at Welsh, which prompted more derisory comments from the City faithful. Wise, as the yellow card waggled before him, smiled our way. He'd heard it a thousand times before and the East Stand, frankly, wastes its breath on players like him. Too good and too astute to be even remotely concerned.

Nonetheless, there was cause to cheer for the right reasons when the half time whistle went. We were ahead against a vastly improved side with a fearsome four-strong strikeforce and looked pretty good. Just before the shrill we were close to going two up in phenomenal style, as a half clearance to Andrews permitted the unflappable ex-Wolves man time to steady himself for a dipping volley off the chest from 30 yards which beat Fulop and bent the crossbar. For a few inches lower and we would have been almost untouchable. Yet we had plenty going for us even at this point.

Ellison didn't convince some, and there's only so much thinking a defender has to do when he gets the ball because of his urge to go left, left, left, but he'd cut in and hit a powerful pair at goal, struck one exquisite pass to Elliott on the opposite flank with the outside of his boot, won some dangerously placed free kicks (if anything should save Ellison, it's his capacity to con refs - he even grinned at the East Stand after one) and showed his instep to a few blocks.

The back four looked relatively safe, although Coventry hadn't been blessed with precision timing in their passing which meant their final ball went mainly astray. That said, Cort was mightily impressive against Dele Adebola. The centre of midfield was in City's grasp thanks to a typically controlling, laid back performance from Andrews, with Wise working from much deeper than in his heyday. We had much to look forward to.

Then came the second half and the collapse.

How it happened is anybody's guess. After all, when your goalkeeper pulls off a triple save of such breathtaking impetuosity which Myhill managed just before the hour, it seems that everything is going your way.

The first was a strong block; the second a quite amazing reflex save from a near post Gary McSheffrey shot which forced a corner; then he got in front of Stern John's criminally unchallenged near post header from the swiftly-taken flag kick to beat that one out. As John collapsed to his knees, head in hands, we got all jingoistic towards our keeper with the now all-too-frequent chant of 'Myhill for England'. On this occasion, we meant it.

Then Coventry scored the best goal against us at the KC this season by a mile.

A 'big esh' ball wasn't dealt with sufficiently and it dropped behind Wise, back to goal, from 25 yards. Now, it's somewhat difficult to say whether he knew the seemingly impassable Myhill was probably a yard too far off his line as he shaped for the overhead kick. But his timing, contact and accuracy was something to behold as the ball looped over an aghast Myhill's hand and into the net, sending their 18 or so fans completely mental.

Many City supporters might have acknowledged, with some considerable muttering and crossing of fingers, a great goal had Wise not decided to mug at us after going over to take the away fans congratulation. In the day's cold light, of course it was still a great, great goal. It gave Coventry the sort of kick up the backside they needed after the almighty disembowelment they undoubtedly got from Micky Adams at the break. And we didn't have much idea how to respond, so we did what we always do when we concede at home - we sat back, scared.

Coventry, with two strikers playing centrally and two more playing wide, were delirious at our way of defending. It's as if we were actively inviting them to go for our throats and see how we respond. Andrews totally forgot how to pass a ball. It's true. He really did. Collins, for all his brave work against a less bothered Stern John in the first half, was guilty of some horribly rushed and misplaced clearances and passes. And a left winger on the right wing, plus a right winger at right back in Ellison and France contrived to give more opportunities Coventry's way down that flank. It was time to worry.

France, who needs a break from the firing line if he's ever going to become the right back Mr Taylor wants him to be, was caught cold as McSheffrey gamely sauntered down the flank again on 71 minutes, and neither of the centre backs tracked John's cross-area run to the near post. The finish was a little unconventional - off the chest rather than the head - but it beat a blameless Myhill and put Coventry in front. We'd given them the challenge and they'd taken it. And you could bet they wouldn't then throw down a similar challenge to us.

Mr Taylor withdrew Ellison - some good applause for him, which was nice to hear - and chucked on Billy Paynter, but this was no 4-3-3. Paynter stuck to the right flank and it didn't work until France started to use his fitness to act as a wingback-type player in a non-wingback system, combining nicely with Paynter to toe a high shot into Fulop's grasp in the closing minutes. France dutifully got forward a lot more in this situation, and with Cort going forward as the emergency target man, we tried one last push. Welsh, clearly knackered, was subbed by Green, and that was that.

City had a few shouts for free kicks and penalties which the referee chose not to give, with one assault on Parkin looking especially suspect but only leading to the enormous fellow picking up a caution for complaining about it. Only the kids in Russell Fry and Scott Wiseman remained on the bench so naturally Mr Taylor chose not to introduce either of them. All that remained was an ugly incident on the touchline when Wise won a free kick designed to frustrate and grinned at the East Stand, at which point a plastic bottle rose through the night sky and clonked him. Disgraceful and indefensible, although the referee didn't help when he blithely took no notice of Wise's goading. City fans can look after themselves - there's no pitying Scouse mentality here - but if Gary Neville should have been booked for gesturing unkindly to opposition support, then so should Wise. He probably wasn't because it would have been a red card and the referee might have faced a controversial hearing. Maybe Sir Alex was right. We await the FA's reaction. It'll be a long wait.

Not that this matters in the grand scheme as City still would have lost and Wise was, when being footballer rather than fairground boxer, completely brilliant. So many of us who bemoaned his impudence and cynicism would also have him in our team tomorrow, if only to keep thoughts positive when things don't go our way.

We're 18th, with only the Wendies below us - of those who had a match - also ending their game defeated. It's getting tighter and closer, with away games against Luton, Millwall and Cardiff - such joyful places to visit - on the horizon. We need to find some positives for the weeks ahead.

Well, both our current full backs are not full backs, but with two more natural exponents in Alton Thelwell and Alan Rogers almost ready to join the fray, things could start to improve a little bit on City's consistency chart. We were ace at Stoke, but they were rubbish, so we need to be ace against similarly dogged and upwardly mobile teams and against Coventry, we didn't hold out for long enough, and that requires players in their natural positions as much as we can manage it.

We also need more belief in ourselves - the respect shown to our opponents, especially at the Circle, as has been a thorn in the side of our form all season, and when the other side score we can't keep accepting it as the norm and invite them to try again. This was our major error of last night.

Team selections remain occasionally surreal, but Ellison didn't supply the main problem last night, although it's surely unlikely he'll be on the right flank when we go to Luton. The gap left by Price - an interested spectator at the Circle - will be filled when either Thelwell gets fit and allows France to switch back to his position of confidence, or when Fagan stops crying enough to Mr Taylor's satisfaction. Either of these will happen sooner rather than later, and of course a certain Nicky Barmby will eventually get fit again and prompt more re-thinks.

No, the main problem - and it's been creeping up for a while - seems to be in central defence. Few doubt Sam Collins' bravery and ability to win headers, but for a few weeks now his distribution and especially his positioning has been shoddy, to say the least. He also has a strange capacity to concede free kicks in the most perilous of zones on the pitch, plus the odd needless head-in-clouds penalty.

While Cort's standards remain high, there is a danger that his partner's peccadilloes could bring him down too and as we are still almost certainly heading for a relegation battle, the last thing we need is a central defensive partnership in disarray.

The obvious answer is to give Delaney his old job back, but we know already from Mr Taylor that it won't happen, possibly barring injury. Delaney is not a centre back any more while playing for City. Unfortunately, Collins seems to be proving to some extent that he isn't either.

See you at Luton and it's magnificent architecural surroundings. (MR)