Tony Mowbray ‘bemused’ by amount of stoppage time as Coventry snatch point

Tony Mowbray was “bemused by the time that was added on” after Viktor Gyokeres’ equaliser in the ninth minute of stoppage time salvaged a point for Coventry against Blackburn.

Bradley Dack’s first goal in over a year since his return from a second ACL injury cancelled out Harry Pickering’s own goal before Scott Wharton put Blackburn ahead after 82 minutes.

But Gyokeres held off the challenge of Ryan Nyambe deep into stoppage time to head home his 14th league goal of the season.

Mowbray added: “Ten minutes 24 seconds my analyst said. Six went up and how they got six I’ll never know, but to get over 10 minutes, it’s sad I think, sad that the officials don’t have to come out and face the questions.

“It’s really sad for me that the officials can’t come out and stand in front of you and tell you where he got the time from. I find it personally embarrassing for the officials, it’s ridiculous and it’s really sad for football.”

Mowbray introduced Dack and Ben Brereton Diaz as half-time substitutes after Rovers had mustered just one shot on target in the first half and the former headed in his first goal since March 9 2021 after just 17 seconds.

Rovers had been on a run of seven away games without a goal prior to Dack’s strike – a run that has seen two draws and five defeats.

Mowbray said: “Bradley Dack is a great player. In my opinion, when he got his first injury he was the best player in the Championship by a long way.

“It’s sad for Bradley but he’s on a journey back, he’s still not fit, we’re giving him bits and pieces of games and I asked him before half-time if he’d give me 45 minutes and he said he would.

“I thought Brereton was unbelievable when he came on, his ability to run with the ball, create chances and open up their defence and put them on the back foot.

“When we’ve got our best players on the football pitch we look like a football team that can score and when we haven’t scored in seven away games until Brereton and Dack get back on the pitch, we should have scored more.”

Mark Robins also bemoaned a refereeing decision that would have seen Jan Paul Van Hecke sent off for clipping Matty Godden when the striker was honing in on goal.

Robins said: “At half-time I was telling them to get away with what might have been, decisions that didn’t go our way that should have gone our way early on in the first half.

“I’m not allowed to talk about it, but these are the things you can’t shy away from. It is what it is, they are there to make decisions and they made the decision. In my opinion that decision wasn’t correct, so we have to live with it.”

Coventry’s last-gasp equaliser was far from the first time this season the Sky Blues netted late to earn a result, scoring at the death against Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Preston among others.

“It’s taken probably two-and-a-half years off my life, no doubt,” joked Robins. “I think we deserved at minimum a point.

“We played brilliantly in the first half and in the second half their changes meant the intensity changed instantly and you’ve got to be able to live with it and we didn’t.

“Within the first 20 seconds they get a goal back and then their tails are up and that cost us any momentum we’d built in the first half.”