MARK Robins praised his “brave” Sky Blues side after Coventry came from two goals down to draw with Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on Saturday afternoon.
Despite Joe Rothwell and Sam Gallagher firing Rovers into a two-nil lead at the break – City responded in the second-half to take a share of the spoils.
Tyler Walker’s strike halved the deficit before Blackburn keeper Thomas Kaminski scored an unfortunate own-goal after Liam Kelly’s superb shot had come back off the post.
That was enough to secure a point in Lancashire as City drop to fourth in the Sky Bet Championship table just two points outside of the automatic promotion places.
Sky Blues boss Robins was delighted with his side’s reaction after the break and praised goalkeeper Simon Moore after he made a crucial late stop to keep the scores level.
Robins said: “We understand that we’ve got to be better but we were really brave in the second-half.
“To go two down was a real blow because it was a poor goal but we know we’re a good side when we believe.
“In the second-half the players showed some belief and some bottle and had a go which made for an entertaining second-half.
“Simon [Moore] has done well at the end with a save from Brereton-Diaz, other than that I think that we really deserved it.”
The home side started well when Ryan Nyambe was played in down the right-hand side of the penalty area before cutting inside and seeing hs curling effort well-saved by Sky Blues keeper Moore diving to his right.
City responded with a chance of their own when Callum O’Hare slipped in Walker down the left-hand side of the penalty area only for his driven effort to be kept out by Kaminski.
However, Rovers broke the deadlock on 39 minutes when Rothwell lifted the ball over Moore after exchanging passes with Gallagher who had delicately flicked the ball into the midfielder’s path.
And Blackburn were two goals to the good on the stroke of half-time when Rothwell burst into the box before cutting back to Gallagher who finished powerfully into the right corner with Moore unable to keep the effort out despite getting a hand to the shot.
Robins’ side were much improved after the break and halved the deficit on 62 minutes when O’Hare collected Gallagher’s loose pass before finding Todd Kane on the right touchline whose low cross picked out Walker at the near post for his first league goal of the season.
And City were soon level in the 68th minute when captain Kelly let fly with the outside of his boot from 25-yards out only for the ball to crash against the right-hand post and hit Rovers keeper Kaminski on the back and trickle over the line.
The hosts were then denied a winner late on when Moore spread himself superbly to keep out Ben Brereton Diaz’s flying header at the back post as the Sky Blues secured just their fifth point on the road this season.
Coventry are next in action on Wednesday, October 20 when they travel to Deepdale to play Preston North End with kick-off at 7:45pm.
