Coventry came from a goal behind against Blackpool to record a comprehensive victory in front of the lowest ever league attendance at the Ricoh Arena.

Just under 16,000 fans turned out to see goals from Michael Doyle (penalty), Michael Mifsud and Robbie Simpson cancel out former City man Andy Morrell's opener for the visitors.

Iain Dowie opted to make one unforced change for the tie, bringing Isaac Osbourne back into the starting eleven in place of David McNamee, who started on the bench.

City began brightly, creating a couple of opportunities in the first eight minutes. First, Simpson cut in from the right to conjure an opening for himself, although he fired straight at 'Pool keeper Paul Rachubka, before man of the moment Mifsud found the side netting from a tight angle.

The visitors played some neat stuff and it was not hard to see how they had gone seven matches unbeaten before this fixture - their last five league encounters all ending in draws.

And in the 33rd minute it was Blackpool who took the lead and you could have bet on the man to score the opener - former City striker Andy Morrell, who got the faintest of headers on a David Fox free-kick to leave Andy Marshall rooted to the spot as the ball found the bottom corner of the net.

There were some question marks over whether it should have been a free-kick in the first place, especially from Stephen Hughes who felt he had won the ball fair and square, although that was irrelevant with the score at 1-0.

With time ticking away before the interval, the Sky Blues got back into the match in the 43rd minute through a Michael Doyle penalty, the Irishman dispatching his spot kick superbly after Mifsud was brought down in the area by Danny Coid.

With the second half ten minutes old, Dowie made the first switch, introducing Dele Adebola for Leon Best and the introduction of the powerful striker gave City more presence up front.

In the 67th minute Shaun Barker nearly turned the ball into his own net, but was saved by some excellent goalkeeping from former Manchester United man Rachubka.

But just two minutes later the Sky Blues deservedly took the lead as Mifsud continued his hot streak in front of goal.

The Maltese international was played clean through by Adebola and made no mistake as he slotted coolly under the oncoming Rachubka.

With nine minutes remaining Blackpool's task of getting back into the match was made even harder when defender Kaspars Gorkss was red-carded for a professional foul, bringing down Adebola as he tore through on goal looking to out the result beyond any doubt.

Which is exactly what Robbie Simpson did in the 86th minute as a goalmouth melee ended with the former Cambridge City man heading over the line to score his first league goal for the Sky Blues.

After an even opening 45 minutes, City took the game by the scruff of the neck in the second half to eventually win at something of a canter and could well have grabbed at least a couple more goals before the final whistle.

Coventry: Marshall; Ward; Hughes; Doyle; Osbourne; Mifsud; Tabb (McNamee 77); Best (Adebola 56); Simpson; Borrowdale (Thornton 87); Turner. Subs (not used): Konstantopoulos; Kyle

Booked: Ward; Hughes; Simpson; Best

Blackpool: Rachubka; Coid; Southern (Welsh 75); Jackson; Morrell (Parker 67); Hoolahan; Taylor-Fletcher (Vernon 74); Fox; Gorkss; Barker; Flynn. Subs (not used): Hills; Jorgensen

Booked: Taylor-Fletcher; Gorkss

Sent-off: Gorkss

Referee: Mr M Thorpe

Attendance: 15,803 (1,135)