Coventry City boss issues warning following false dawn against Blackburn Rovers
Coventry City fans are desperately hoping that Saturday’s comeback victory over Luton Town proves to be the turning point in their team’s season.
But after the similarly inspiring 3-0 win over Blackburn Rovers proved to be a false dawn just a few short weeks ago, manager Mark Robins has warned that no-one should get too carried away, not least his players, and think they’ve suddenly “cracked it.”
Put to him by CoventryLive that the 3-2 win over the Hatters has to be a catalyst to kick-start the season, the Sky Blues boss agreed: “Yes, it has to be,” before adding, “but don’t anyone get carried away. None of us must get carried away because what young players tend to do is think, we’ve cracked it now and then go to Middlesbrough next week and come unstuck.
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“I am going to give them a couple of days off and then we’re back on it on Tuesday to train, and from then on we will work into the game at Boro. We have three games before the international break and we want to get as many points as we can because we are playing catch-up.”
Asked if he thinks City, and Luton alike, are in false positions in the league after the opening 12 games has seen them battling to get out of the bottom half of the Championship table, the manager said: “There are such fine lines in this division and you just have to stay there with strength of character. And that’s why we say they are a young squad who are a little bit erratic in games. But even though we went two goals down to Luton, they didn’t capitulate or surrender. They kept doing the things we had talked about and it should be a lesson for them, a really good lesson for them.
“But the fact that we had the quality to go and play the way that we did and fashion the chances that we did and all the things we have spoken about shows which way we’re heading.”
Asked about the atmosphere in the dressing room after the weekend’s win, Robins said: “It was much better than it has been. Because they are young they know they are better than the league position suggests. The results that we have had haven’t really reflected things. I was saying to Rob Edwards before the game that we could have both had eight more points, easily, and not even talked about it.
“It’s those fine margins that you have to get yourself through but you also have to learn from it so that you can handle it when it happens again. “So the period of time doesn’t go on for ten games, but just two games or half a game. That’s what you’re hoping for, if you are having a bad spell then get on with it, so that’s where we need to get to. But I am clearly pleased with the result and the performance and the support.”