Lack of game management costly - Robins - The Coventry Observer

Lack of game management costly - Robins

Coventry Editorial 25th Nov, 2019   0

MANAGER Mark Robins says a moment of panic from his side was costly after conceding a 90th-minute equaliser away to Sunderland last weekend.

Dominic Hyam’s goal on 26 minutes looked to have been enough to have sealed all three points for the Sky Blues at the Stadium of Light, but for Benjamin Mbunga-Kimpioka’s last-gasp leveller, to keep Coventry in fifth in League One.

Reviewing the equalising goal conceded, Robins labelled the situation a moment of “panic”, and said: “The difficulty you have with it is, you have very inexperienced players playing alongside experienced players and, and those with experience have got to take control of the situation.

“We could have dealt with the situation better when they scored the goal because we weren’t in the position from the throw in, then we were stretched, dropped deeper and panicked.”




Coventry were rewarded for their ambitious approach in the first half when Zain Westbrooke’s delivery from the left was nodded across goal by Michael Rose into the vicinity of Hyam – who glanced the ball past former Sky Blue Lee Burge for the opener.

The visitors were good value for the lead at the break and had a couple of second-half sighters that suggested their afternoon was to get even better, when Liam Walsh and Jordan Shipley both brought saves from the Sunderland custodian.


But for all of Coventry’s endeavours in the North East, their maximum-points haul was snatched away from them by Mbunga-Kimpioka – who turned the ball past Marko Marosi following a goalmouth scramble.

Robins felt a lack of game management prevented the Sky Blues from claiming all three points, adding: “We were playing back to the goalkeeper and trying to take the sting out of the game, which is alright at times, but it was too early to do it.

“Then what happens psychologically, you drop deeper and deeper and we have got to do better than that.

“Keeping the ball is fine, but we need to have a purpose about it. They got back into the game when they shouldn’t have and we should have killed the game off.

“One or two things weren’t right, and we can get better at it, but we can take the point as a positive and keep working.”

Coventry turn their attentions to the second round of the FA Cup on Sunday (2pm), when hosting Ipswich Town.

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