Mark Robins hails goalscorer Viktor Gyokeres after Coventry beat Millwall

Posted Wednesday, February 15, 2023 by PA

Mark Robins waxed lyrical about Swedish star Viktor Gyokeres after the Sky Blues’ top scorer ended his eight-game wait for a Championship goal by securing Coventry a 1-0 win over Millwall.

An energetic and threatening Gyokeres was a handful for the Millwall defence all night before he took down Callum Doyle’s pass, turned past Charlie Cresswell and fired in his 13th league goal of the season from 25 yards in the 67th minute.

“It was an unbelievable goal,” said Robins. “An unbelievable finish, he must be 25 yards out, a little bit more in terms of the angle, and he’s buried it but he does it so effortlessly, the power is incredible and it was worthy of winning any game.

“That’s just his mentality, he’s really focused, he’s a brilliant kid, he’s really good to have around, he’s honest, he’s straightforward, he’s focused, he’s determined. He knows exactly what he wants and how he’s going to get there, he’s very selfish as strikers are generally, but he’s learning to pass the ball.

“You can see when he releases the ball, he’s not doing it quite at the right moment to help both himself and the rest just yet, but he’s getting there.”

Gyokeres’ link-up with Kasey Palmer was evident all evening as the pair carved Millwall open and created chance after chance in the first half.

Robins added: “Palmer was unbelievable, out of possession, in possession, showed some really good touches, his work-rate was phenomenal, as was Jamie Allen.

“The fact Kasey is so bright, and he’s worked really hard to get to this level in terms of his fitness levels, deserves all the credit.

“It was a really good performance.”

Gary Rowett was also left full of praise for the Coventry frontman after Gyokeres’ winner, which saw Millwall drop out of the play-off spots.

An honest Rowett admitted: “Against a team like Coventry, when they’ve got Gyokeres up front what you can’t do is give balls away and leave him space against defenders because he’s very, very good at utilising that space and I thought at times tonight those transitions he looked an immense threat.

“Did we not deal with him well enough or is he just a really good player that a lot of teams are going to struggle against? I don’t know but if you want to keep a clean sheet and you want to get something out of the game I think you’ve got to go and keep him quiet and I thought he looked a handful all night.

“The goal is probably a testament to that, he brings it down, turns one way, wriggles back inside and hits it from 30 yards.”

Millwall were lacklustre in attack until Luke McNally was forced to clear Oliver Burke’s effort off the line, whilst Zian Flemming’s free-kick sailed high over the crossbar.

Rowett added: “You do certain things when you come away from home, tonight you look at Coventry and they really had the edge about them at the start, a bit like we’ve done to so many teams.

“Really bright, full of running, just looked like they were a bit more desperate to start the game and I think sometimes you have to accept that. It took us a while to get into the game.

“Did we deserve a draw? Probably not.”