Coventry lose out in dire fight

'We're fortunate there are still teams we can get in contact with,' he said. 'Instead of it being a scrap between four teams for the three relegation places, it's any three out of seven. We're very lucky four or five teams have had particularly poor starts, along with ourselves.'

If Jefferies suffered any kind of inferiority complex as he commenced his first stint in English management after a career spent solely in Scotland, his first two matches at Bradford are certain to have knocked that out of him. The domination of Scottish football by the Old Firm, notably Rangers, has long been sneered at south of the border. But as United strengthen their grip on the English game, their rivals continue to founder.

Coventry looked more likely to score a second goal than to concede an equaliser after John Aloisi's opener but one hectic three-minute spell condemned them to their sixth defeat in seven League games.

Aloisi and Mustapha Hadji, who set up the Australian striker's 64th-minute goal, were an ever-present danger up front while behind them, 21-year-old midfielder John Eustace gave a composed display.

But no matter what the result, neither camp could have justifiably complained about the scoreline. It says much for the ability of the sides that Brad-ford's win owed more to luck than anything else.

Coventry boss Gordon Strachan said: 'At this moment we're known as a team of losers all the way down to the physio. Bradford didn't show greater character, the football gods just aren't smiling on us.'

After picking up four points in two matches, it would seem someone up there is currently looking down kindly on Jefferies, who is infinitely more streetwise than the amiable but hapless Chris Hutchings.

Benito Carbone, who hit the crossbar with a wonderful late chip, was effective but Collymore's desire must again be questioned, even though his goal - one that your granny could have scored - sparked Bradford's late fightback.

Jefferies is softly-spoken but dressing-rooms the length and breadth of Scotland have hosted a plethora of his angry rants at teams who have fallen short of his standards.

The Bradford manager had just cause to raise his voice on Saturday and he said: 'I wasn't going to be quiet at half-time after seeing all the old failings in the last 25 minutes of the first half. I told them if they weren't prepared to work at it, I would bring in people who were.

'At the moment the players are responding to what I'm doing in training and not one of them has complained yet. But the bottom line is they know I've got a track record of changing things round.'