Mark Robins salutes Coventry commitment after virus hits squad

Posted Wednesday, November 02, 2022 by PA

Mark Robins hailed the commitment of his Coventry players for overcoming a virus in the squad to lift themselves out of the bottom three with a 1-0 win over high-flying Blackburn at the CBS Arena.

Stand-in captain Jamie Allen netted his first home goal of the season from Josh Eccles’ cross to lift the Sky Blues out of the Championship drop zone for the first time since August.

Coventry have been dealing with a sickness bug in the camp since last week and Robins was forced into changes for Saturday’s match against Blackpool and Tuesday’s clash, including losing Kyle McFadzean shortly before kick off.

“If anybody doubts the commitment of the players, just look at the last two games,” the manager said.

“What they’ve done in three days where they’ve been really ill, and there’s a few coughing in there and throwing up at half-time, and still putting a performance in like that, that is unbelievable. I’m so proud of them.

“Jamie Allen was absolutely unbelievable to captain the team. Lose Kyle McFadzean just before kick-off, he had a 39 plus temperature, but he came and turned up, he wanted to play.”

The match was played at the CBS Arena despite doubts in the build-up, as the Sky Blues were forced to seek potential alternative arrangements given the uncertain financial situation surrounding Arena Coventry Limited.

Robins added: “It’s a testament to them (the players), because it’s been so difficult for the last few days. On top of that we’ve got the uncertainty of where we’re going to play, so make no mistake the players were absolutely outstanding and supported by a brilliant group of supporters.

“You cannot talk about that and separate that from the supporters, because everybody’s going through the same thing together. Those people have been through so much and it needs sorting out, making sure we are capable of playing our home games in the stadium that was built for us.

“Whoever is going to buy this stadium, make sure we’re at the heart of it and we’ll all get on fine.”

Blackburn boss Jon Dahl Tomasson bemoaned a below-part first half that saw Rovers concede possession time and again before being punished by Allen four minutes before the break.

Rovers could have gone top with a win before leaders Burnley play on Wednesday night.

“It was a disappointing night,” said Tomasson. “We lost the game in the first half when we didn’t perform well enough.

“In possession we were too loose, we gave a lot of the ball away and were not aggressive enough. We had a couple of opportunities, but overall Coventry deserved to be in front at half-time.

“The boys stepped up in the second half but needed the final ball to be better to create something dangerous. We’ve had lots of ups and downs and will continue to do so. We are not the end product.

“In the first half we were too slow and there were too many mistakes. In the second half we were better without being brilliant because we did not create enough.”