Aidy Boothroyd says he has no problems with Henri Lansbury 'making a meal' out of a tackle that saw his Coventry side reduced to 10 men on Saturday.

Lansbury needed treatment on the pitch after being felled by Aron Gunnarson's two-footed tackle in the first half, leaving the hosts with a mountain to climb against a classy-looking Norwich outfit.

But Boothroyd – who believed his side should have had a penalty earlier after a coming together between defender Michael Nelson and Clive Platt – took the unusual step for a manager of concurring with referee Chris Sarginson's decision.

'The referee got it right because you can't take both feet off the floor,' said Boothroyd. 'There was no malice in it because Aron is not that type of player but his studs were showing and I thought the referee was spot on.

'We had a very strong shout for a penalty before that that included a roundhouse, forearm smash and a half nelson but the referee didn't give it so you need to move on and keep your focus.

'But we don't want to complain about referee's decisions. We want to keep the focus on ourselves and perhaps defend crosses a little bit better because it's something we're normally really good at so I've got no complaints and we just look forward to our next game.

'Obviously the player makes a meal of it, but he is going to isn't he? He wants us to have 10 men and I don't have a go at him for that either, it's professionalism.

'We had to readjust for the game. We have lost Lee Carsley, and Gunner has gone in there – he plays there for Iceland – and he makes a mistake like that and we are down to 10 men.

'But I said at half-time I thought not only that we could get back into it, but I felt we could win it, I really believed that and that was why I was so bold with the tactics because I thought I could do it.'

Whether a full complement of players would have made any difference when Grant Holt popped up to score twice, sandwiching a Marlon King equaliser, is debatable.

'I think the fact that we got back in there is an indication that there's a belief around us that we can go and win games and we went for it, it worked because we did get back in it,' said Boothroyd.

'You don't look at anybody else, you look at yourselves and we know there is a player that has got in at the far post with a header that he shouldn't do. We do that every day and the defensive players know how to deal with it and we have left Holt free at the corner.'