The good, the bad and the ugly as Coventry City’s squad management comes into question

Coventry City showed their resilience and determination to snatch a last minute point away from home on a long and wet Wednesday night at Plymouth.

Argyle are no mugs and have an excellent home record, making it a tough fixture before a ball had even been kicked. And although the Sky Blues spurned opportunities to take the lead, they battled back twice to ensure they left Home Park with something to show for their efforts.

Ellis Simms pulled City level after some poor defending saw the impressive Morgan Whittaker give the home side the lead, and then Liam Kitching popped up with a second to cancel out a Bobby Thomas own goal with almost the last kick of he game, deep in six minutes of stoppage time. There’s nothing sweeter than a late goal to spoil a party, the leveller almost felt like a winner and certainly gave the fans something to make their trek home a little more bearable. Here are some of the talking points from the 2-2 draw

Managing the squad

Mark Robins came in for a bit of criticism in some quarters for making so many changes to his team following Sunday’s victory over Millwall. But the fact of the matter is that the Sky Blues boss is trying to manage his squad the best he can to navigate through a hectic run of fixtures. Fatigue is beginning to kick in, hence why Callum O’Hare stayed at home rather than make the seven/eight hour round trip to Devon.

There were others who were visibly below their best on the night, the likes of Milan van Ewijk, and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto when he went on in the second half. But to come away with a last minute point after looking to like they’d lost the game showed real resilience in the side, and made it all worth while for the incredible effort and support from the 1,708 die-hard fans who made the long trip south.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Robins was torn in his post-match assessment of his players’ performance, on the one hand disappointed with the way they defended but, on the other, pleased with their attacking intent, albeit missing a number of really good chances. He pointed to the fact that many are still very young and how much he needs to get them back on the training pitch to remind them of a few of the basics in the way that he wants them to play.

Plymouth’s second goal was a case in point, the manager showing his frustration when saying: “That came from kicking out long from the back. Get on the ball and do your stuff. Don’t put it in the air for a fight ball because they are better at it.” He added: “How we defended, we just switched off but I don’t want to give them excuses.”

At the sharp end of the pitch, Matty Godden missed a couple of really good chances; the first a header that he sent wide from about four yards out, and the second when he was through on the left and denied by the goalkeeper who spread himself wide to cut out the angled shot. “I feel for him because he’s almost there,” said the manager, “but the angle of his run was that he was coming at it from the side (for the header). He was trying to get to it but was coming from an angle and it meant the ball just got away from him. And then in the second half he opened his body up for his shot and sort of lost his footing for a split second, which cost him the chance to score when you would normally expect him to stick that in the back of the net. Those were just two of the chances that he had and we had umpteen others where we just didn’t finish off amid some good goal keeping and last ditch defending.”

Simms backed by Robins

Another whipping boy for some supporters this season has been Ellis Simms, but it was pleasing to see his hard work and determination rewarded with a goal – only his fifth for City so far. He continues to give his all and to put in a shift, and has the full backing of his manager who remains convinced in his ability.

“It was a really good goal from Ellis,” he said. “He gets stick from time to time but he will come good. He’s just got to keep going and keep believing. The keeper made a good save but he carried on and put it in with his chest, and I was delighted for him.”

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