A FRUSTRATED Michael Appleton felt Coventry City's players showed more "hunger and desire" defensively which proved key as they beat Oxford United 2-1 to win the Checkatrade Trophy at Wembley.

Gael Bigirimana opened the scoring in the first half when a ricochet fell his way in the box, before some poor defending led to George Thomas putting the Sky Blues 2-0 up with a terrific strike in the 55th minute.

Liam Sercombe pulled a goal back with a quarter of an hour left.

And United looked certain to force extra-time, only for Josh Ruffels and Phil Edwards to be denied by an incredible double block in the 94th minute.

Appleton felt the way Coventry had put their bodies on the line summed up the difference between the sides.

The head coach said: "The game was decided in both boxes.

"I thought Coventry had a hunger and desire to probably keep the ball out of their net more than we did.

"It’s not necessarily what you do in possession of the ball or keeping it for long periods, you have to make it count."