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Mark Robins’ face said it all after Coventry City’s latest Championship frustration
It’s typical Coventry City to get two hard-fought and thoroughly deserved victories to steady the early season nerves and then go and spoil it by losing to a team that they really should be beating.
Having just come up from League One, Derby County are dogged, well organised and defend with their lives, but they were far from a major threat going forwards. And so it was infuriating when the Sky Blues handed them their lead on a plate from a dreadful back-pass.
Meanwhile, for all City’s perceived quality after four years of re-establishing and building in the division, far too many players fell way below the required standard to get a result. Here are some of the big talking points and things learned from Wednesday night’s disappointing 2-1 CBS Arena defeat.
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Two steps forward, one giant leap back
Coventry City’s stop-start season continued as the players took two steps forward against Luton and Middlesbrough, only to take what felt like a giant leap back against Derby. The biggest frustration is the fact that, once again, City were the architects of their own downfall as they threw away the tantalising opportunity of securing their third consecutive Championship win against a hard working and determined Rams side that lacked any real quality and threat. The fact that Jerry Yates scored only his second goal of the season was down to a blind back-pass from Jack Rudoni who handed the opportunity on a plate for the striker.
City were guilty of similar sloppiness against Sheffield Wednesday when Liam Kitching hit a stray pass before Ben Sheaf gave up possession in the middle of the park, leading to their winner. We can point to a goalkeeping error at QPR denying the team the full three points.
Angry Robins at a loss
Asked if he can put his finger on why his team have been so inconsistent so far this season, a clearly seething Mark Robins was unusually brief in his post-match assessment, saying: “That’s the million dollar question, to be fair. I’m at a loss. The worry is that you think they have cracked it after they have won a couple of games. You think you have cracked it and then all of a sudden you get your backside kicked again. That’s what the division does and it’s either the exuberance of youth or a different mentality. And they have to understand that this league is unforgiving and they have to hit certain heights in games.”
He added: “I thought we were better in the second half but we’d already given them two goals. And then it is difficult to come back against any team. You can’t do it in every game, and we can’t score three goals to win games every time. So I think that’s the frustration and disappointment but that’s my responsibility and I have got to get that right.”
Off-side injustice
As poor as City played, particularly in the first half when they managed one measly shot on target, there was a strong case of injustice when Yates was played through down the left to get a shot away from a route-one move that saw the visiting goalkeeper hoof the ball upfield. It bounced and was then flicked on by Craig Forsyth, with Robins claiming his staff had watched the replay back and insisted the striker was a good four yards off-side. And replays do confirm that to be the case. Yates also got a bit of luck with his effort taking a deflection off Bobby Thomas to send it looping up over Oliver Dovin.
Self-inflicted suspension
Just when you think things can’t get any worse on the self-inflicted front, one of the mainstays of the side picks up a fifth yellow card of the season to render him suspended for the weekend. That man, it seems, is Josh Eccles who, although it went widely unnoticed in the aftermath of Tatsuhiro Sakamoto’s consolation goal, was booked for what appeared to be back-chatting the referee.
At a time when City are already light on numbers, the last thing Mark Robins or the team need is to have another player missing, particularly for such an avoidable offence. It’s a shame for Eccles who has been one of the success stories of the season so far in terms of growing in stature on the pitch with some consistently mature performances, but this will go down as a harsh lesson learned for the young player who clearly needs to show more discipline in future to avoid being banned.
