Relief for Bellamy as goal answers critics

Craig Bellamy was delighted to give Coventry fans something to cheer with his sixth goal of the season in the 2-0 victory at Swindon. The £6.5million striker, revered as a goalscoring hero at Norwich last season, has recently been the target for abuse from Coventry fans bracing themselves for another Premiership relegation battle.

The Wales star was happy to make someone else pay for his problems when he stole the ball off Swindon defender Sol Davis and drilled it past goalkeeper Bart Griemink after four minutes.

Bellamy said: 'I have scored six goals this season and that is not enough which is why, with no disrespect to Swindon, I wanted to score really badly here.

'The stick I have had this season is something I have not experienced before. Playing at home the crowd are on your back all the time, but it has made me stronger as a person and has helped me grow as a player.

'You think to yourself that if I can get through this at 21, I can get through a lot of things.' Coventry were always in control after Bellamy's strike and the only shock was the fact that they managed only one more goal through captain Moustapha Hadji on 65 minutes as they extended their unbeaten run to five games. Swindon manager Andy King chose to shrug off his goalkeeper's heroics to keep the score down to two as 'that's what he is paid for'.

He added: 'You are not going to trick me in to saying Coventry are a bad Premiership team but I think they were poor on the day.

'I am disappointed because there was possibly a scalp to be taken but we gave two stupid goals away.'