Coventry City v Southend Betting Tips: Sky Blues to come off second best again

This League One match sees relegation-certainties Coventry City take on play-off hopefuls Southend United.

Coventry are in a mess both on and off the field and recently appointed their former manager Mark Robins in place of Russell Slade to try and deal with the problems. Of course this made no difference at the weekend as Coventry lost 2-0 at home to Bradford City and will probably not make any difference for the rest of this season.

The Sky Blues have been woeful in both boxes this season with just 30 goals scored (second-lowest) and 56 conceded (fifth-worst) in 36 matches. Despite Robins’s appointment, confidence is incredibly low at the Ricoh Arena right now and neither of these damning statistics look like improving.

As you would expect from the team bottom of the league, Coventry have been woeful at home (although it is technically not their home given the off-field issues) with just 18 points collected from 17 games – the worst in the division. Furthermore, they have lost their last two matches on home turf, conceding five in the process.

Play-off hopefuls Southend are on a poor run at the moment with just one win in their last five League One matches and even that came back in late February. Fortunately for them, they had some decent results a few weeks ago which means they are still in with a good shout of the play-offs as they sit 7th and four points off that precious 6th spot.

Defending has been a problem for Southend in recent weeks and the Shrimpers have kept just one clean sheet in their last 11 matches in all competitions. They do score a few and their weekend loss to Bristol Rovers was the first time that Phil Brown’s side had failed to find the back of the net in five League One matches. However, if you are conceding loads, you will not win games – as Southend are proving at the moment.

Southend actually have one of the better away records in the division with 23 points taken from 18 matches away from Roots Hall. However, they have lost their last two games on the road so things need to turn around quickly if they want to continue their play-off push.

Neither of these sides are in fantastic form but Southend are clearly the better team – the table does not lie – and have an excellent opportunity against a side who’ve got little left to play for. Backing the visitors at 11/8 is worthwhile.

Click here to read Tuesday’s Championship tips.