Coventry City will be fuming with developments at Southampton and Sheffield Wednesday: View | OneFootball

Coventry City's hopes of reaching the Championship play-off places hang in the balance heading into the closing stages of the campaign.

The Sky Blues travelled to St. Mary's with supreme confidence, having just beaten Leeds United and produced back-to-back away triumphs over Huddersfield Town and Watford.

However, Mark Robins' side were compounded to a ninth defeat on the road this season as two goals from Che Adams secured victory for Southampton to all but secure their place in the top six and get a head start on preparations for the play-offs next month.

Coventry City will rue missed opportunities against Southampton

Having arrived at the South Coast knowing the platform three points, albeit against a fellow promotion-chasing side, would give them heading into the final games of the season.

They were handed the opportunity inside the first 10 minutes after Flynn Downes was adjudged to have fouled Joel Latibeaudiere inside the area.

The normally reliable Haji Wright assumed responsibility of the spot-kick, but slipped as he stepped up to strike, watching on from the St. Mary's turf as his effort agonisingly cannoned back off the crossbar and away to safety.

And that missed opportunity proved costly as Saints raced into a two-goal lead before half-time as Kyle Walker-Peters' deflected shot off Che Adams wrong-footed Bradley Collins before the Scottish international doubled his tally for the evening with a close-ranged finish.

Hopes of a comeback following the interval materialised with 20 minutes left to play as Jake Bidwell finished expertly after being picked out at the back post by Fabio Tavares, but Russell Martin's side were able to withstand the Sky Blues' pressure, despite having nine efforts during the encounter.

Coventry City league position

While the result on the night would have been disheartening, it would have been more difficult to take once knowledge of other results across the division filtered to the Coventry players and Mark Robins himself.

207 miles north in South Yorkshire, Norwich City faced relegation-threatened Sheffield Wednesday with the Canaries hopeful of pulling away from the rest of the chasing pack. Ultimately, that failed to transpire.

Josh Sargent and Borja Sainz struck inside the opening exchanges to seemingly cruise to a comfortable victory, but the Owls' revival since Danny Rohl's arrival at Hillsborough continued, producing a late comeback as Michael Smith levelled the game with five minutes to spare.

David Wagner's side missed the chance to open a seven-point gap on Coventry in the race for the play-offs, and Coventry will be understandably frustrated they didn't come away with at least a point from their efforts against Saints.

Heading into this weekend's fixtures, five points seperates the two sides, with the Sky Blues having played a game less, but Preston North End's win over Huddersfield Town has not ruled them out of the equation, with both Hull City and Middlesbrough just a point behind.

Coventry City's remaining Championship fixtures

While the full focus will be on the remaining league fixtures for the Sky Blues, the players and manager have the small matter of an FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United to contend with in between their domestic duties.

They travel to St. Andrew's this weekend to face a Birmingham City side whose relegation fears worsened in midweek, with the spice and emotion of a Midlands derby expected to take a lot out of Mark Robins' squad.

Following their trip to Wembley, Coventry play three games in six days with their first encounter at home to Liam Rosenior's side, before travelling to Lancashire to face Blackburn Rovers.

Their penultimate game of the season sees high-flying Ipswich Town visit the CBS Arena, with their final game of the season against Queens Park Rangers at home potentially deciding whether they remain in the division for another season, or have a second shot at returning to the Premier League.

It looks set to be an exciting, yet busy month for the Sky Blues, with supporters hopeful they can produce two visits to Wembley this term.