Coventry City match reaction from CoventryLive as Mark Robins insists his Stoke side deserved nothing from their game against the Sky Blues
Stoke City Manager Mark Robins during the EFL Sky Bet Championship match against Coventry City
Mark Robins branded the way his Stoke players conceded a late winner at his former club Coventry City as an “absolute joke”.
The former Sky Blues boss didn’t pull any punches as his young goalkeeper Tommy Simkin raced of his area to challenge Ellis Simms deep in stoppage time, resulting in the ball falling loose to Jack Rudoni to add to Haji Wright’s opener to seal the three points for Frank Lampard’s league leaders who had conceded an equaliser from a corner just before half-time.
Robins didn’t hold back after the 2-1 defeat, saying: “We didn’t deserve anything for the way we were in the first half. We were poor. Having said that, we get back in the game through a bit of luck.
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“Decent corner in, decent finish and it ends up in the back of the net and you come in at 1-1. I’m thinking OK, let’s get a grip on them. But they make it difficult for you because they put you under pressure and the amount of balls that they try and put in behind you is significant, so it puts you on the back foot a little bit.
“From our point of view we didn’t get close enough to them so we had to alter things and that got us a bit more of a foothold in the game. It was an awful game, but it was a game where you’ve got to lift balls in behind them and run, get crosses in where you can and it just didn’t resemble anything that we do.”
Robins bemoaned the fact that his squad is suffering for a number of injuries in contrast the Coventry who currently have plenty of strength in depth to draw from the bench, with all four of the home side’s substitutes impacting the game.
“The fact they’ve got the amount of bodies they’ve got to make changes, that’s where we’re severely lacking,” he said.
“Having said that, to get to two minutes before the end of the game at 1-1 and to conjure up a defeat is an absolute joke and that comes from a number of factors.
“Primarily, young goalkeeper but you’ve got experience in front of him who have to deal with it. First half we didn’t get near anybody but second half we were a little bit better and you expect to see the game out at that stage but not us.
“He made brilliant saves, some really good decisions, but then occasionally gets one wrong but he needs help with that. He will learn, it’s just really frustrating that we make errors that no other team in the division makes.
“We took part in the game in the second half; first half we were bystanders, didn’t get near them and they could have been two and three goals up but Tommy made some really good saves.”
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