Mark Robins makes admission as long-standing issue comes ‘home to roost’ in wake of epic Wembley effort

CoventryLive’s coverage of the Coventry City match as Sky Blues manager Mark Robins offers his assessment of the team’s performance against Hull tonight

Coventry City’s lack of depth in the squad has, according to Mark Robins, “come home to roost” after they lost their third straight Championship match due in part to injuries and exhaustion.

The Sky Blues manager was compelled to make five changes to his valiant FA Cup semifinal team, which twice overcame a behind to defeat play-off-chasing Hull City at the CBS Arena before giving away a late winner that was preventable.

In the first, keeper Brad Collins missed a routine save; in the second, the manager insisted that a penalty was given outside the box; and in the third, Bobby Thomas, who scored City’s second equaliser after an incredible free kick by Kasey Palmer, underhit his backpass to the keeper.

“First and foremost, they have done brilliantly to get through it with the energy that they have shown; from Sunday to now, there was absolutely no chance of recovery,” said Robins, refusing to blame his players for their efforts in the trying conditions. You also run the chance of getting hurt, which is something we have done.

“The top and bottom of it is that the game has come too soon since Calum O’Hare was unable to go because he simply wasn’t ready to operate properly yet. While we have been dealing with the emotions and exertions of Sunday and getting ready for this game, they haven’t had much to do since Saturday.

“I think everyone played pretty well; the only thing that went wrong was that we were not paying enough attention to the really bad goals that we gave up. We have just talked about the goals we surrendered, which aren’t terrific, and the fact that we have lost three straight games in the league. It has been a while since that has happened.

But because of the energy levels, there’s really nothing you can do about it; you simply knew it was coming. This is when it comes to light that we are deficient in particular depth-related areas, something we have known for a very long time.

It’s a tough one because, in all honesty, we played as well as we possible could have tonight. We scored two excellent goals at home, and you would think that would be enough to win it, especially given how strong we have been at home this season. However, we had to make adjustments too early in the game because when you run out of steam, you run out of steam.

“The energy cannot be turned on at the appropriate moments. Jamie Allen, who shattered his cheekbone in the Cup, is just returning to action. He has only been in the game for 15 or 20 minutes.

“Binksy felt it during the game and had a tight Achilles at halftime. I’m not sure how serious that is. Joel Latibeaudiere developed a calf issue some time ago and has been taking care of it; nevertheless, it has somewhat caught up with him today.

“We’re playing another game on Saturday/Tuesday/Saturday, and it’s very absurd. Should we also need to act like children, then that is what we will need to do.

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