An 86th minute own goal from teenage loanee Matt Mills gave the Blues a 2-1 win at Coventry and took them to second in the table, Patrick Suffo having equalised Dean Bowditch's opener shortly beforehand. Despite the fortunate nature of the winning goal, the Blues fully deserved the three points.
Keeper Kelvin Davis failed to recovery sufficiently enough from his back injury to take his place between the sticks, Lewis Price making his second league start in his place.
Town boss Joe Royle made a change to his regular 4-4-2 formation, matching Coventry's 4-3-3, Dean Bowditch coming in for Ian Westlake. The midfielder had returned to the side against Reading in the week but has complained of tiredness in recent weeks.
The Blues had the ball in the net twice within the first ten minutes, however Darren Bent and then Shefki Kuqi, who netted with a sublime chip, were both flagged offside.
Coventry's first strike came on 17, Stephen Hughes making a run from midfield before shooting across the face of Lewis Price's goal.
Two minutes later, the Sky Blues were given a golden opportunity to go ahead. Tim Sherwood completed a one-two which took him into the area but was felled by Drissa Diallo as he tried to shoot on goal.
Referee Clive Penton had no hesitation in awarding the penalty and Diallo was perhaps a little fortunate to escape a card. Recent signing Stern John took the kick but Price dived to his left to scramble the ball away, Richard Naylor completing the clearance.
The penalty miss upped the tempo of the game and two minutes later Town went even closer to opening the scoring. Darren Bent's flick on a ball through the middle was cleared out to Dean Bowditch on the edge of the box. The England U19 international hammered a ferocious strike off the cross bar and out into Coventry possession. If anything Bowditch had hit the ball too well.
Lewis Price saved a Steve Staunton drive from the left just before the half hour mark but the second choice Town keeper, penalty aside, was having a relatively easy afternoon.
Dean Bowditch was sent away down the right on 32 and crossed towards Bent. The England U21 international headed powerfully but straight at Luke Steele in the Coventry goal who parried, the ball just avoiding Shefki Kuqi on its way out.
Soon after, Darren Bent felt he ought to have had a penalty when he went past Richard Shaw inside the area and claimed a trip. Referee Penton was unmoved.
Town were switching their front three on a regular basis as the half went along. Bent started on the right with Bowditch on the left and Kuqi in the middle. By the 43rd minute Bowditch was on the left from where he crossed deep to Kuqi, Staunton getting in ahead of him to concede a corner.
Both sides will have felt they could have been ahead at the break, the penalty undoubtedly the best chance of the half, while Bowditch's strike off the woodwork was the closest Town had gone to a goal. It had been a scrappy 45 minutes which neither side had really controlled.
Four minutes into the second half Tommy Miller picked up a yellow card for a foul on Shaw, the Coventry player sportingly appearing to indicate to the referee that he didn't feel the challenge was worth a caution.
Town were looking much the better side in the second half and on 53 went close to a goal. Kevin Horlock sent in a freekick which Dean Bowditch flicked on to Darren Bent. His effort on goal from six yards was blocked by the keeper, Richard Naylor putting the rebound into the side netting.
Three minutes later Horlock played Kuqi through one-on-one with the keeper, the Finnish international taking his shot early and the ball striking the quickly advancing Luke Steele full in the face and falling to a Sky Blue shirt.
Just after the hour, Jim Magilton spotted the increasingly dodgy-looking Steele off his line and sent a delightful 40-yard chip on to the roof of the net.
Kuqi struck a 25 yarder which was no trouble for Steele in the 66th minute, the keeper tipping an effort from a similar distance by Bowditch over the bar a couple of minutes later.
Town should have gone ahead on 68. Keeper Steele, looking well out of his depth, played a goalkick straight to Kevin Horlock on the Blues' left. The ex-Manchester City man took the ball into the area, drawing the keeper before laying the ball across to Bent. Last season's top scorer seemed certain to score but mis-hit his strike, the ball flying high and wide of goal.
However, a goal was only a couple of minutes in coming. Magilton spread the ball wide to Diallo on the right. The Guinean international brought the ball forward and inside before laying it out to Bent. The striker sent the ball low and hard across the six-yard box, Dean Bowditch netting at the far post.
It was all Town deserved on their second half performance and they immediately went looking for a second goal. Magilton found Kuqi inside the area, the former Wednesday man taking the ball down with his chest but Steele blocking. The keeper also managed to get in the way of Miller's attempted cross with a somewhat unorthodox punch.
With the Blues now ahead, Joe Royle decided that a change was needed, Ian Westlake coming on for Kuqi, Town moving to 4-4-2. Westlake immediately had a shot blocked as a cleared corner fell to him on the edge of the area.
However, the change seemed to unsettle Town on their left flank, both Richards and Westlake getting caught too far up the field as sub Bjarni Gudjohnsson's ball over the top put sub Patrick Suffo in the clear, the Cameroonian international looping the ball over the helpless Price and into the net with the home side's first shot on target of the half.
Town went back to looking for the goal to get them ahead. Horlock's 25-yard shot went a foot or so wide, before the same player crossed from the left and Darren Bent's header forced a save from Steele.
With four minutes left, Town got the kind of lucky break that only comes around once every couple of seasons. Bent chased Matt Mills for a ball played forward halfway inside the Coventry half, Mills played it back towards goal, where he thought keeper Steele would be, only to discover he was only a matter of feet away from him and that the ball was making its way inexorably over the line and into the net.
There were few dangers for Town in the last four minutes of normal time or in the three added on.
While the winning goal was more than fortunate, three points was all Town deserved from what was probably their best away performance of the season. They started well before the home side came back into it but after the break Horlock and Magilton in the Town midfield ran the show.
It seemed for a while that the game was to be a repeat of the Reading match in midweek, in which the Blues failed to take their chances until Bowditch popped up to score.
That ought to have seen Town to the three points in itself but the failure to track Suffo gave the home side a chance of a point until Mills and Steele's mix-up.
Price in goal did little wrong but was rarely tested by a Coventry side which doesn't look likely to put in any sort of promotion challenge this season.
Town are now second in the table, level on points with Wigan but behind on goal difference with no fixtures for two weeks due to international games.
Town: Price, Diallo, Richards, De Vos, Naylor, Magilton, Horlock, Miller, Bent, Bowditch, Kuqi (Westlake 76).