Chris Coleman guided the Sky Blues to an excellent victory over local rivals Leicester City in his first game as Sky Blues manager.

A first half penalty from Elliott Ward and Leon Best strike 12 minutes from time gave City all three points after a much improved performance at the Ricoh.

Coleman made three changes to the side, welcoming Stephen Hughes and Julian Gray back into midfield, while Danny Fox returned at left-back.

But the Sky Blues suffered the worst possible start to the game when in the second minute, Hughes fell to the floor after the ball appeared to hit him in the face, with the midfielder subsequently stretchered off with a suspected head injury following a long delay.

It forced Coleman to shuffle his pack very early in the match, with Kevin Thornton coming on to replace the 31-year-old.

Coventry created a great opportunity to open the scoring on 14 minutes. From a short free kick, Danny Fox fired his shot towards goal. Ben Alnwick could only parry the ball and the ball eventually came to Elliott Ward, who dragged his chance wide.

Michael Hughes lifted one over on 29 minutes as both teams tried to find a rhythm, before the Sky Blues were awarded a penalty a minute later when Leon Best was pushed by Gareth McAuley.

In front of 5000 Leicester fans in the Jewson Stand, Elliott Ward coolly stepped up to take the resulting spot kick and blasted it under Alnwick and into the back of the net to give the home side a 1-0 lead.

A clever piece of play from Thornton and Best saw the ball fall to Tabb just a minute later with the former Brentford man hitting his shot well but seeing it fly wide.

Thornton was in the thick of it for the wrong reasons on 36 minutes when he became the first player to go into the book, following a challenge on Zsolt Laczko.

But Coventry City would keep the advantage going into the break in a first half which certainly wasn't short of physical challenges.

It continued a feisty affair after the break and Ward tried to double the advantage - and his own tally - when he volleyed into the keeper's arms just after the hour.

The Sky Blues had to soak up a fair bit of Foxes pressure but were defending stoutly and in the 78th minute they doubled their advantage.

The effervescent Thornton was the architect, playing Best into space, the striker hitting a sweet low drive across Alnwick and into the far corner of the net.

That goal effectively killed off any challenge from the visitors but Marshall produced a superb save from Iain Hume late on to preserve his clean sheet and round-off an excellent first game for Coleman's Coventry.

Coventry: Marshall; Osbourne; Ward; Hall; Fox; Tabb; S Hughes (c) (Thornton 8); M Hughes; Gray (Andrews 87); Mifsud; Best (Simpson 84). Subs (not used): Konstantopoulos; Dann

Booked: Thornton; Best

Leicester: Alnwick; Chambers; Kisnorbo; McAuley (N'Gotty 51); Clemence (c); Hume; Campbell; Clapham (Hayles 82); Oakley; Laczko (Mattock, 45); Howard. Subs (not used): Fryatt; Stearman.

Booked: McAuley; Clemence

Attendance: 23,129 (visitors 5,042)