Coventry not feeling relegation pressure, insists Mark Robins after Wycombe draw

Posted Sunday, March 21, 2021 by PA

Coventry boss Mark Robins insisted pressure is not a problem despite seeing his wasteful side slip within four points of the Sky Bet Championship drop zone with a 0-0 draw against bottom club Wycombe.

City spurned the game’s best two chances inside the opening five minutes as Gustavo Hamer dragged wide and Max Biamou was thwarted by Wycombe goalkeeper David Stockdale one-on-one.

Victories elsewhere for two of the bottom three, Rotherham and Sheffield Wednesday, have condensed the relegation battle, with the 22nd-placed Millers having three games in hand on City.

“There’s teams that have lost above us and they will start to feel the pressure because they are teams that will not have thought they would be anywhere near trouble,” insisted Robins.

“For us, to finish outside the bottom three would be a huge, huge success this year. We’ve got one of the bottom three budgets in the league, so that’s where we’re supposed to be.

“So if we outperform our budget we are going to be all right and we will have had a brilliant season, but we’re good enough to do it as long as we keep calm and keep playing the way we can.”

Coventry failed to fashion a decent second-half opportunity after bossing the first period and have now won just twice in 12 league games.

“I thought in the first half we were really good and should have been a minimum of three goals up, but in the second half we made it harder work for ourselves,” Robins added.

“That’s the disappointment, that we didn’t take one of those, because I think it could have opened the floodgates.

“It’s a point towards the total, so it’s not all doom and gloom, but we should have won the game.

“In fairness, the first-half performance was really good, it just lacked the goal. We’ve got to continue to be brave and continue to fight and scrap but also be more determined in the final third.”

Wycombe rode their luck early on but could have pinched all three points late on as substitute Fred Onyedinma’s 20-yard shot was well saved by Coventry keeper Ben Wilson.

The Chairboys’ fate appears hopeless, 11 points from safety, but boss Gareth Ainsworth remains adamant they have a chance of survival.

“It’s not over yet, no chance, we are still going to be battling hard and who says we can’t win every game we’ve got left? These things do happen,” insisted Ainsworth.

“Usually a point and a clean sheet away from home in the Championship is brilliant, but we need wins and we were trying to go for it at the end.

“The lads gave me their best, we just lacked a little bit of quality at times, but I think we restricted Coventry’s quality as well. It was a game of few chances.

“Effort, we’d be right up in the league, but unfortunately it’s about goals and technique and we’ve just got to make sure that we keep giving everything we’ve got until that last kick because you never know what could happen.

“It’s still well open and it’s going to be tight, and I believe it will be tighter than it is now come the end of the season. How tight is going to be down to the boys and how we can keep competing.”