Mark Robins hails Coventry’s patience in win over Wigan

Posted Wednesday, November 09, 2022 by PA

Mark Robins praised his patient Coventry side after beating Wigan 2-0 to earn a third Sky Bet Championship win in a row.

After a drab first half in which Kasey Palmer came closest to opening the scoring, Gustavo Hamer’s deflected effort broke the deadlock before Viktor Gyokeres finished Wigan off on the counter in stoppage time.

It saw Coventry move into the top half of the Championship for the first time this season following six wins in their last eight games.

“They’re a really tough nut to crack and they’ve got some really powerful players,” explained Robins.

“They were very stubborn and we had to try and be patient and not get anxious and try to force things because that’s what they’re after.

“What we didn’t do really well is move the ball well enough with the thought to try and create something, we were flicking too many things and when you’re flicking, you’re not looking and there’s not enough space.

“When the ball went wide we didn’t have enough quality and there was only one in the box.

“Kasey Palmer and Callum (O’Hare) were trying really hard to open them up, in the second half they were clever, they found some space and they linked up really well but we never took the chances, but we’re a side that takes opportunities now but we didn’t shoot.

“Then changes were made and it opened things up a bit for Gus (Hamer) to hit one and it went in off (Jack) Whatmough’s toe and we needed something like that to drag them out, which we did.

“We still looked a threat, we still tried to play, had lots of the ball, they overcommitted and if we defended properly I know we could hurt them again.

“They got a warning from it, the keeper dealt with that situation but for the second one the pass from Josh (Eccles) was outstanding, the movement and the power that you saw from him (Gyokeres) and then the calmness, it was a fantastic finish.”

Wigan manager Leam Richardson conceded that Coventry’s opening goal, which took a huge deflection off Whatmough to leave Jamie Jones stranded, summed up how the Latics’ form is going of late as they were handed their sixth defeat in seven games.

“It does and you can’t feel sorry for yourself,” admitted Richardson.

“We knew our challenge coming out of the summer coming into this league, we knew it was going to be challenging but they’ve accepted the challenge so well.

“Disappointing result, I thought first half it was very even, keepers didn’t have much to do, I thought we possibly shaded it being the away team and then in them moments we’ve got to be better, especially offensively we’ve got to be better and make them moments count because you know they’re gonna have certain spells.

“Second half they started very brightly, I thought the momentum swung with them and our distances became a little bit too open, but I thought we saw it through so to speak and then the sucker punch is the deflected goal which is disappointing.

“Coventry have been going really well for a few years now, they’ve been recruiting really well and I think they will be right up there come the end of the year, they’ve got a really strong squad of players who’ve been together, they look really well-coached, really well-drilled and the quality of player is there to be seen.”