Coventry City 2-0 Birmingham City: Wayne Rooney’s woes deepen as Blues continue to hunt for a maiden away point under new boss – thanks to peppy brace from Callum O’Hare

Wayne Rooney admitted Birmingham City are in a 'difficult period' after suffering their eighth winless match in his nine games in charge.

Birmingham were undone by former Aston Villa striker Callum O'Hare, who scored twice and for the first time since scoring against the same opponent in a 4-2 win in April 2022.

Coventry fans mocked him with chants of 'Rooney', 'You're getting fired in the morning' and 'Omne John Eustace', referring to Rooney's predecessor and their former captain.

“It's disappointing and frustrating, but we have to roll up our sleeves and dig in,” Rooney said.

'We are going through a difficult period and we have to stick together to get more points.

Callum O'Hare (centre) made a triumphant return to the scoresheet after an unfortunate ACL injury

Wayne Rooney has claimed just five points from a possible 27 since arriving at St Andrews

O'Hare was sidelined for seven months after suffering a knee injury on Boxing Day last year

'We have to keep trying to improve by working on the training pitch to get better results.

'We have to achieve better results.'

O'Hare gave the Sky Blues the lead on the half hour when he scored after a one-two with Tatsuhiro Sakamoto.

The 25-year-old – making only his second start after a 10-month absence with a serious knee injury – capped a virtuoso performance with the second on 77, slaloming through the penalty area to beat Juninho Bacuna and Krystian Bielik before hitting home a rising shot . .

“We conceded two sloppy goals, it's that simple,” groaned Rooney.

'I thought we started quite well, but with the first goal we gave him (O'Hare) too much space in the penalty area.

'For the second goal we worked on defending the penalty area, but we didn't do that well enough.

“We worked on playing more in the opponent's half and we had two or three shots when we had to keep the ball.”

Coventry boss Mark Robins praised O'Hare's contribution.

“Callum is a brilliant person, he's fantastic all around, a really infectious character,” he said.

'He has worked very hard to get back to where he is now and there is still more to come from him.

'He has those qualities, he loves playing football – I know he plays in the park with his old man.'

Haji Wright (left) had a number of strong chances, but was unable to get on the scoresheet

Birmingham keeper John Ruddy had to work hard due to a persistent Coventry City attack

Sky Blues fans called for Rooney to be sacked in the morning after a triumphant home show