Coventry maintained their unbeaten run under Iain Dowie and ended the six-match winning streak of 10-man Coca-Cola Championship rivals Wolves with a 2-1 victory at the Ricoh Arena.

Defender Elliott Ward, whose own goal handed Wanderers all three points in the reverse fixture at Molineux in October, avenged that 1-0 defeat with the winning strike midway through the second half.

Ward ghosted unmarked into the six-yard box before calmly steering home Stephen Hughes' corner with a side-foot volley at the far post to take City's tally to 11 points from a possible 15 under Dowie.

Earlier, Michael Kightly's goal on the stroke of half-time had cancelled out Dele Adebola's opener.

Kightly slammed the ball into the roof of the net after Andy Marshall had parried a Seyi George Olofinjana header into his path.

The goal came totally against the run of play and immediately after Wanderers had had Jackie McNamara sent off.

McNamara was booked in the 14th minute for hacking down Michael Mifsud and received his marching orders when he repeated the misdemeanour on Adebola.

Adebola had given Coventry the lead after Wanderers failed to deal with Hughes' left-wing free-kick and he pounced on the bouncing ball to poke past Matt Murray from six yards out.

A routine shot from the edge of the box from Michael Doyle was spilled by Murray before the Wolves goalkeeper extinguished the danger by smothering the loose ball.

Coventry had a strong case for a penalty waved away by referee Peter Walton when Gary Breen tripped Mifsud, but to the astonishment of most inside the Ricoh Arena the spot-kick was not awarded.

Doyle spurned a glorious opportunity to open the scoring when he snatched at a chance from 12 yards out and screwed his shot wide.

Wolves were just gaining a foothold in the game when Adebola rocked them with his seventh goal of the season just before the half-hour and Wanderers had Murray to thank for keeping them in the game soon after as he saved from Mifsud.

Wolves created little before Kightly's goal but they did have the ball in the net 10 minutes before the break but Stephen Ward's effort was ruled out for offside.

Coventry started the second half as they began the match and went after Wanderers in an attempt to press home their numerical advantage.

Adebola had a near-post header unwittingly blocked by Neill Collins immediately after the restart before Doyle lifted a shot over the crossbar from the edge of the area.

Hughes' goalbound effort was deflected wide as Coventry continued to apply the pressure.

Dowie introduced Chris Birchall and Khalilou Fadiga midway through the second half to add extra nous to his attack with Isaac Osbourne and Jay Tabb the players to make way.

And Birchall almost made an immediate impact as he slipped the ball to Mifsud who cut infield from the left and unleashed a ferocious shot that produced another fine one-handed stop from Murray.

It looked like Doyle had put the seal on the victory when he lashed an angled shot past Murray but, just like Ward for Wolves in the first half, the Irishman had drifted into an offside position and the strike was chalked off.

Teams:

Coventry Marshall, Virgo, Hawkins, Ward, Hall,Osbourne (Birchall 64), Hughes, Doyle, Tabb (Fadiga 67),Adebola, Mifsud.

Subs Not Used: Steele, Page, Cameron.

Goals: Adebola 26, Ward 71.

Wolverhampton Murray, Edwards, Breen, Neill Collins, McNamara,Kightly (Clapham 46), Potter, Olofinjana,McIndoe (Mark Davies 78), Ward (Bothroyd 73), Keogh.

Subs Not Used: Budtz, Craddock.

Sent Off: McNamara (45).

Booked: Kightly, McNamara, Edwards.

Goals: Kightly 45.

Att: 22,099

Ref: P Walton (Northamptonshire).