Coventry City manager Mark Robins saw positives in a goalless draw with a’really good side’ Stoke City, which ended a losing streak.
Before Saturday’s stalemate, Robins’ team, last season’s play-off finalists, had suffered four consecutive defeats. Ellis Simms came the closest to breaking the deadlock with a first-half header that hit the outside of the post, but neither team put enough pressure on the opposing custodian.
“I told the players that there has been a lot of good work done this week, some of which came out in today’s game and some of which didn’t, and it may take time for it to come out fully,” said Mark Robins, who suggested that it was imperative to “stop the rot” because it was getting boring.
“I told the players that there has been a lot of good work done this week, some of which came out in today’s game and some of which didn’t, and it may take time for it to come out fully,” said Mark Robins, who suggested that it was imperative to “stop the rot” because it was getting boring.
But I thought everyone’s work rate was incredible; Haji worked his socks off on the left side, as did Matty Godden. Ellis was trying to find his way and hit the post, and Matty missed a scoring opportunity because it came off his shoulder rather than his head, which you would expect him to score. Haji had some really good possession and could have scored, Ben Sheaf had some good possession and could have scored, and Jamie Allen came onto a ball from 10-12 yards and he’s got to do something and score, so that’s the frustration.
I’m glad we stopped the rot because it was getting boring, but I’m frustrated because we could and should have taken the chances we created to take the game away from a really good team that has shown recently with three wins in a row that the league is very tight.
“You need something to build on, and hopefully today is that.” In terms of points, it’s been a difficult period from international break to international break, but some of the performances, and parts of performances, have been really good. It’s just putting it back together.
Joel (Latibeaudiere) worked extremely hard and performed admirably. Nothing was given on that side, and he mostly stopped the threat on the left side. Bidders (Jake Bidwell) got a lot of crosses in, and the midfield was inventive. There were some good sections of play, but we just didn’t execute the final pass or touch to finish.
“But we have to take it and a clean sheet in light of the goals we’ve given up.” Remember, we had three away games and one at home, and the decisions that went against us were laughable. So we just have to take the point and move on, but
Alex Neil reckoned that neither side had done enough to win.
“I thought we were probably a little mixed,” he said. I thought there were some really good parts and then some not-so-good parts. We played well from the back, creating and getting into good areas, but we lacked a real punch at the top of the pitch today. I didn’t think we gave ourselves enough clear chances.
“We got into some really nice spots.” We doubled up down the sides a lot, overlapping about six or seven times to get to the by-line. When you get there, you have to create better opportunities for yourself, whether it’s a clear cut back or standing it up to the back post.
“I thought we had a few chances.” Andre wears one when he throws his leg at it, while Wouter wears one when he tries to take a touch and should probably just guide it. We had some good moments, but not enough to win the game, in my opinion. They appeared to be quite similar to me. I thought they had a few good moments but not enough to win the game.”
