Mark Robins hails ‘effervescent’ Callum O’Hare after derby double

Posted Saturday, December 09, 2023 by PA

Mark Robins was delighted for midfielder Callum O’Hare after he scored a brace in Coventry’s 2-0 win over Birmingham.

They were the former Aston Villa man’s first goals since he suffered a serious knee injury on Boxing Day last year, which kept the 25-year-old out for almost 10 months.

“I’m absolutely delighted for him,” said manager Robins. “I thought he was really good, some of the football we played with him being the conduit was really clever and everybody wants to get involved.

“There was some really good football and the goals that he scored were fantastic.

“If he keeps that calm head there’s no reason to put any sort of pressure on him, he knows what he’s doing. He’s had some time out to reflect and look at how he goes about things but his character and his personality, he’s just an effervescent character that lifts everybody on a daily basis.

“I’m delighted with the win and the performance, it’s a derby game and sometimes things go for you, sometimes they don’t, you’re never going to get it all your own way but I think we got the majority of it our way and that was because of the performance of the players.

“The lads have done really well, we had more chances to convert. Some of the football was brilliant and the two goals we got were outstanding.

“When we had to defend we defended really well, Brad (Collins) has made a couple of good saves, we defended the corners and I’m delighted with the three points.”

O’Hare toe-poked home a first-half opener before doubling the lead when Coventry broke from a Birmingham corner and he jinked across the box before finishing emphatically.

Blues manager Wayne Rooney bemoaned more soft goals conceded by his team, who have now lost six of their nine games since the former England striker replaced John Eustace at St. Andrew’s.

Rooney said: “I thought we started the game quite bright but the decision-making wasn’t the best. It was something we’ve been working on, playing in the opposition’s half and trying to create better chances.

“That needs to be better from us. The first goal is a poor goal from our point of view. I felt like we were still in the game, we were trying to get an equaliser and they get the second goal from our corner.

“We’re getting punished when we make mistakes and ultimately we need to cut that out, but throughout the 90 minutes Coventry deserved to win, they were the better team.

“We let ourselves down with the goals we conceded and that’s my responsibility, it’s my job to get the players performing better and picking up more points than we have done, we’re working extremely hard to try and do that.

“We’re in a difficult place, we know we are, with the run of results, the points we’re losing and the big thing is the goals we are conceding are very poor goals, so we have to figure it out, make sure we don’t give easy goals away which we seem to be doing at the minute.”