Mark Robins not taking anything for granted despite Coventry winning again

Posted Thursday, April 22, 2021 by PA

Mark Robins urged his Coventry players to keep pushing for points despite them looking assured of Championship safety thanks to a 3-2 win at Stoke.

The Sky Blues moved onto 51 points thanks to strikes from Tyler Walker, Maxime Biamou and Viktor Gyokeres at the bet365 Stadium, and are now very unlikely to be caught.

But while manager Robins heaped praise on his men, he warned they can take nothing for granted.

“It feels close now,” he said.

“Other teams have to win plenty of games now, but we have to just keep picking up points.

“To have 51 points on the board at this stage is outstanding and now we need to see where we can get to.

“It’s always important we pick up wins at any stage, but to do it at this stage under the circumstances is testament to everyone at the club.

“The work has always gone on at the training ground, but we have been abysmal away from home this season. But now we have won 3-2 at a really difficult place and you can see what a few tweaks can do.

“Stoke are usually very solid here but we scored some great goals. We could have easily folded when they came back into it but we stuck at it and defended well when we needed to.

“I’m proud of everyone at the club. From where we were when I walked through the door four years ago, to where we are now, is chalk and cheese. Now we have to push on and get as many points as we can.”

Gustavo Hamer and Connor Taylor had gone close to opening the scoring for their respective sides before Walker broke the deadlock with a neat finish just before the interval.

The goals came thick and fast after the restart. First Jacob Brown smashed Stoke level in the 58th minute after a mistake by Hamer, but Coventry restored their lead when Biamou arrived at the far post to tap in from close range.

The Potters roared back to 2-2 when Sam Clucas executed a brilliant left-foot volley which left keeper Ben Wilson no chance.

But Gyokeres had the last word when he drilled past keeper Angus Gunn from an angle, to make it three wins on the spin for Coventry.

Stoke manager Michael O’Neill said: “We lost this game in both boxes. We conceded through our poor decisions and poor play, and we didn’t do enough in their box.

“We still want to finish the season strongly. We have to do better, we have lost and drawn too many games.

“These games do allow me to look at some things and learn about my players more, but we have to win as many of the final three games as possible.”