Powell believes Southend were robbed of point against Coventry

Posted Sunday, December 30, 2018 by PA

Southend manager Chris Powell believes his team were robbed of at least a point after they were beaten 1-0 by Coventry.

Jordy Hiwula’s 54th minute strike condemned the Shrimpers to defeat but Powell was adamant that the officials missed a clear offside in the build-up to the goal.

He said: “It shouldn’t be a defeat, quite simply. Before I talk about us, it’s an offside goal – it’s quite a straightforward decision because actually I thought the referee and the assistants were good.

“I know many a time we are complaining about them but I actually though they were pretty good today, but they missed that one.

“Not the player who scores, but the player that’s behind Tim Dieng who receives the ball and then obviously after a slick pass it’s a goal. So I’m disappointed in that respect.”

Despite the result, Powell was satisfied with his players’ performances and the Southend boss already has his attentions firmly focused on Tuesday’s clash against Gillingham.

He added: “I thought we grew as the game went on and I thought we got stronger and stronger.

“Nathan Bishop had maybe one save to make, and we had the better of the chances, but you’ve got to take them.

“In a tough period like this, if we had a took a minimum of a point – four points from two away games – then it would have been decent.

“As I said to the players their efforts and their application was very good. The performance got stronger but we’re on the receiving end of a defeat. In three days’ time we’re playing at Roots Hall, which is a huge game.”

Coventry boss Mark Robins was delighted with his side’s tenacious display as they held on to make it back-to-back league wins over the festive period.

He said: “We played against a side today who scrapped right the way to the end, they never give up and they press and fight.

“We matched that, and we showed real courage today which I was really pleased with. We’ll see who the characters are now who want to fight and scrap for their place.

“When you’ve got eight minutes stoppage time and you’re 1-0 up, you know that they will throw caution to the wind, but we’ve got to try and control that last eight minutes if we can do. They’re going to have some attacks, but we had to make sure we were solid.”

After going nine league games without a win, the Sky Blues have rediscovered that winning feeling and Robins believes it is still all to play for this season.

He said: “I still feel that we could have a say towards the end of the season again.

“With 21 games left to play it is all there to play for. We’ve got some tough games coming up both home and away, but we can look forward to those games and try and have some fun.”