Robins admits Coventry have lessons to learn from ‘deserved’ defeat to Rotherham

Posted Sunday, October 06, 2019 by PA

Coventry manager Mark Robins said his side need to learn from the harsh lessons dished out in their 4-0 loss at Rotherham.

Matt Crooks and Michael Smith both bagged braces in a comfortable victory for the Millers which saw 10-man Coventry lose their unbeaten league record.

Crooks opened up and finished off the scoring with a header and then an opportunistic strike following a Michael Rose misjudgement.

Smith’s double both came from the penalty spot. First he was upended by Marko Marosi before beating the goalkeeper and his second came after Kyle McFadzean hauled down Crooks, with the Coventry skipper sent off in the process.

Robins, who both played for and managed Rotherham earlier in his career, said: “I thought that we were second best from start to finish.

“You could see their intent from minute one. There are a lot of lessons to learn from this game.

“We have given them the game. There is a lot of disappointment but it’s early days and these setbacks will test you.

“To get to this stage unbeaten and lose in this manner, we can learn from it. I am just disappointed that we ended up conceding four goals but they deserved to win. There’s no doubt about it. They could have had eight goals.

“The skiddy surface contributed to some of the mistakes.

“We created some good opportunities but I don’t walk to talk about that. Defensively we were not good enough but it is a work in progress and we have plenty of lessons to learn from this game.

“If you think that you have cracked it, the game has a habit of kicking you in the teeth.”

Rotherham manager Paul Warne felt his team showed their true colours following last week’s 1-0 defeat at Bristol Rovers.

He said: “It can go wrong sometimes in football management but it luckily went well.

“I think if the opposition bring a real big following it adds to the atmosphere and it feels like a proper game.

“I thought the game was excellent because Coventry are the first team to come here and try to win as opposed to coming to try and draw. The scoreline could have been a lot higher for both teams.

“In fairness to Robbo (Robins) they are averaging two points a game. They have got it right more than I have this season. The fact they have come on the front foot makes it a better game and better for our fans.

“Every game in this league is really hard. To win a game of football, there are a lot of things that need to be right, and today they were.

“I was disappointed at Bristol Rovers last week and that was my fault. It wasn’t really like us. Today we were more like it.”