MARK Robins says Coventry City should be talking about a last-gasp win over Birmingham City and a place in the fifth round of the FA Cup following Callum O’Hare’s late miss.
With the game still goalless heading into the second minute of stoppage time, a header from Amadou Bakayoko put the ball on a plate for fellow substitute O’Hare to convert at the far post – only for the Aston Villa loanee to fail to connect with the ball.
As a consequence, the Sky Blues will have to do it all again, this time as the away side at St Andrew’s next week on Tuesday 4th/Wednesday 5th February.
The Coventry manager was aggrieved not to have progressed at the first opportunity following Saturday’s 0-0 draw, but remained delighted with the showing from his players against Championship opposition.
“We’re slightly disappointed not to have got the winner, but I’m certainly proud of them,” Robins said.
“We acquitted ourselves really well and can be really disappointed that we didn’t progress through with the chance we had at the end which was gilt-edged.
“We have to do it all again, we’ve put a lot of work into that. My attention now turns to Tuesday night [a trip to Fleetwood Town, 7.45pm] and the recovery for that, but the game was a great effort.”
Robins believes his side more than matched their opposition, but feels it was an encounter which should have gone the way of his side – the hosts of their St Andrew’s landlords.
“They’ve got some really good quality players who made us work hard and you can see there was a difference, but we grew in confidence and that meant that we were able to perform to a good level.
“Chances were few and far between all game but there was some good quality from us as well which I was pleased with, and that was the big thing for me – seeing us perform against a good side from a higher division and seeing how we fared.
“Callum has been dreaming about that all week. He was disappointed not to be starting the game although he had a bit of a knock on Thursday, and really we should be talking about his goal and a lot of other different things.”