ERIC Black lavished praise on his players' application against promotion-chasing Town and warned potential giant-killers Colchester United not to be complacent for Tuesday's cup replay, writes Derek Davis.

ERIC Black lavished praise on his players' application against promotion-chasing Town and warned potential giant-killers Colchester United not to be complacent for Tuesday's cup replay, writes Derek Davis.

The Coventry City boss made four changes to the side which performed so poorly against the U's last week and reverted to a more orthodox formation against the play-off contenders.

Black felt his side were unfortunate not to take all three points, but said if they repeated the commitment and quality against Colchester they would be the side going to Sheffield United in the fifth round.

Black said: "We are the team in the higher division so we have to go there with a bit of confidence.

"Colchester may feel the tie is over and they have done the hard work but I can assure you that is not the case. The FA Cup will always be a battle but we have now got to take the belief from what we know we can achieve and carry on.

"Although we know we have a tough task ahead, we have got to go to Layer Road and show that we are the First Division side. If we perform better then I believe we can progress to the fifth round."

Although Ian Westlake equalised for Town after Stephen Warnock had given the Sky Blues the lead, Black thought City were worthy of a win instead of the draw. Black said: "We started well and had a lot of possession of the ball but could not capitalise on it.

"I could not fault my players. They worked exceptionally hard and I can't ask for more. The desire to win the game was there and they went right down to the wire and we should have won it in the last 15 minutes.

"There are areas around the pitch where we need to brush up on and that is what we will do."

Black acknowledged Kelvin Davis' part in City's failure to win – his fine saves included one to deny former Arsenal youngster Graham Barrett, who had a loan spell at Colchester.

The City boss said: "They were match-winning saves and that was the difference. We have created four or five really good chances and the keeper has made great saves which if he had not we could have won 3-1."

Goalscorer Warnock had a massive impact on the game in midfield and Black admitted he is working hard to make the loan move from Liverpool a permanent one. He said: "Stephen works very hard, his attitude is magnificent which is why I want to keep him at this club."