“That is something they are starting to run out of.”Atkinson said his team had played “reasonably well” and added that he did not really have anything new to add to his team talks in the crucial month ahead. How did Coventry rate? “They’ve got a lot of quality players, but it’s about gelling players together which takes time,” he said. Goal of the month for March, perhaps, but Dublin would trade that for the two less spectacular finishes that Fox found to put Spurs ahead, and then out of reach.Recent fixtures have given Fox a look at three of the bottom four. It recalled the veteran’s role in other great rearguards over 12 seasons at the club. “I have been in some relegation battles and survived them all,” he said.While history might record them as glorious, he says, the immediate reality is rather grim: “People who have gone down say it’s the worse thing that can happen to you.”Coventry did not play as if they feared the worst, and the build-up to Dublin’s goal reflected the best of their attacking play: Peter Ndlovu’s running; Noel Whelan’s darts and drifts into space; Kevin Richardson’s floated passes beyond the full-backs.The pass that fell for Dublin to volley was stroked not lashed, but it flew into the net. Many of those chances came from a stream of corners forced by a Spurs team that only hit full stride once in front.

“They were always a threat on corners but to an extent I thought we dealt with that,” Ron Atkinson said.Not to any great extent. The first man to every ball swung in was invariably wearing white. And, inevitably, it was more corner-induced commotion that enabled Teddy Sheringham to head in a close-range equaliser.Coventry’s away goals against average is more than two, but just before the break it seemed as if the last line at least might hold all day, as Steve Ogrizovic brilliantly kept out Chris Armstrong’s fierce shot. Substitutes not used: Goodridge, Hateley, Brazier.Southampton (4-4-2): Beasant; Dodd, Neilson, Monkou, Benali (Walters, 64); Heaney, Venison, Magilton, Charlton; Warren, Shipperley. Substitutes not used: Widdrington, Tisdale.Referee: P Jones (Loughborough).Bookings: QPR: Bardsley, Brevett, Holloway, Yates.

Southampton: Dodd, Charlton, Monkou.Man of the match: McDonald.Attendance: 17,615.. JOHN PERLMAN

Tottenham Hotspur 3 Coventry City 1
Dion Dublin did not want to talk – two chances missed just after the break had turned the sweet taste of a quite glorious goal to sawdust. While Coventry’s resolve was perhaps weakened by his failure to extend the lead, the game was ultimately lost because the players behind him never looked capable of protecting what they already had.”We were creating chances all the time,” said Ruel Fox, who clearly enjoys playing Coventry: he has scored three of his six League goals this season against them. He knows that in players like Sinclair, Dichio and Impey, backed up by the outstanding example of skipper McDonald, he has the stuff to at least rage at the dying of the Premiership light over Loftus Road.Their visit to St James’ Park on Saturday suddenly seems less daunting. As Wilkins put it, “we’re due a nice upset and I can’t think of a better place for it.”Goals: Brevett (23) 1-0; Dichio (59) 2-0; Gallen (77) 3-0.Queen’s Park Rangers (4-4-2): Sommer; Bardsley, McDonald, Yates, Brevett; Sinclair, Impey, Holloway, Barker; Dichio, Gallen. Kevin Gallen’s third left Dave Beasant with a red face when a moment’s hesitation and vicious back spin of a bounce allowed the striker to beat him to Alan McDonald’s through ball.Ray Wilkins, the QPR manager, has never lost the ability to smile in public as his problems have grown, but here he meant it.

After the unfortunate Francis Benali diverted Rufus Brevitt’s fierce cross-cum-shot into his own net in the 23rd minute, there was none.Daniele Dichio’s second, calmly executed after Trevor Sinclair’s flick had put him clear was the only goal that would not have caused dressing- room recriminations. BOB HOUSTON

Queen’s Park Rangers 3 Southampton 0
As the footballing equivalent of the Big Bang continues to sharpen the divide between the Premiership’s haves and have-nots, the drop to the Endsleigh First Division for the impecunious assumes ominous and horrific consequences.The message of what relegation now means has got through at Loftus Road but not, it would seem, at Southampton and that was the decisive factor here. Saints’ manager, Dave Merrington, elated after the commitment that had beaten fellow strugglers Coventry, was in deep depression as his men lost the place in the second half and were lucky that Rangers’ biggest win of the season only cost them three goals.Those who maintain that life minus Matt Le Tissier means a more prosaic but more purposeful Saints, should have been at Loftus Road. The suspended maverick, not on song of late anyway, at least would have offered some hope of salvation with a magic moment.

5 May Southampton (A).MANCHESTER CITY: 6 Apr Manchester Utd (H) 8 Wimbledon (A) 13 Sheffield Wednesday (H) 27 Aston Villa (A) 5 May Liverpool (H).SOUTHAMPTON: 3 Apr Leeds (A) 6 Blackburn (H) 8 Aston Villa (A) 13 Manchester Utd (H) 17 Newcastle (A) 27 Bolton (A) 5 May Wimbledon (H).COVENTRY: 6 Apr Liverpool (H) 8 Manchester Utd (A) 13 QPR (H) 17 Nottingham Forest (A) 27 Wimbledon (A) 5 May Leeds (H).BOLTON: 6 Apr Everton (A) 8 Chelsea (H) 13 West Ham (A) 27 Southampton (H) 5 May Arsenal (A).QPR: 6 Apr Newcastle (A) 8 Everton (H) 13 Coventry (A) 27 West Ham (H) 5 May Nottingham Forest (A).. Manchester City: Curle, Summerbee, Brown.Man of the match: Stubbs.Attendance: 21,050.Battle for survivalRemaining fixturesSHEFFIELD WED: 5 Apr Middlesbrough (A) 8 Arsenal (H) 13 Manchester City (A) 17 Chelsea (H) 27 Everton (H) 5 May West Ham (A).WIMBLEDON: 6 Apr West Ham (A) 8 Manchester City (H) 13 Middlesbrough (A) 17 Blackburn (A) 27 Coventry (H). Substitutes not used: Phillips, Kavelashvili.Referee: R Dilkes (Mossley).Sending-off: Manchester City: Summerbee Bookings: Bolton: Thompson, Coleman. The Manchester United manager and his assistant were at Burnden Park on Saturday. The only person who looked happier was the Bolton fan who won pounds 2,000 on the club’s half-time lottery.Goals: Quinn (2) 0-1; McGinlay (74) 1-1.Bolton Wanderers (4-2-3-1): Ward; Bergsson, Fairclough (Paatelainen, 76), Coleman, Phillips; Stubbs, Sellars; McGinlay, Curcic, Thompson (Blake, 81); De Freitas (Green, 63).Manchester City (4-3-2-1): Immel; Summerbee, Symons, Curle, Hiley (Frontzeck, 90); Lomas, Brightwell, Brown; Clough, Kinkladze; Quinn.