‘Sucker punch’ – Mark Robins gives verdict on Coventry Hull City’s point at
Coventry City match reaction from CoventryLive as Sky Blues boss Mark Robins gives his post-match take on the 1-1 draw at Hull
Mark Robins admitted his Coventry City side were hit by a “sucker punch” by Hull after failing to take their chances at the MKM Stadium.
The Sky Blues took the lead through a first half Joel Latibeaudiere header but were hanging on amid late pressure from the home side who eventually got their rewards with Aaron Connolly sending a backwards header into the far corner of Ben Wilson’s net with three minutes of normal time left on the clock.
And although the City manager was hugely disappointed with what he described as a “poor” goal to concede, he admitted that it was probably a fair result on the night.
“I thought it was a really good game, two good teams. I think Liam Rosenior is doing a great job and I think both teams asked questions of each other. We took the lead and I think it was deserved. We had done enough to get that. It was a really well-worked set play and Joel got a good header in.
“Our build-up to the game has been a bit disjointed with the Jamaican internationals coming back only yesterday so we had to do some real work with that, and fair play to them, especially Joel getting through 90 minutes.
“There were some really good performances from us tonight and having some chances to go and finish it off we just could do that well enough, and the moves we had in the second half, we just picked the wrong option. We had people in good positions when they were committing bodies forward and played pretty well.
“But I think their substitutions were good and had a bigger impact than ours, but with the timing of the goal and nature of it, we defended the first part of it really well but failed to get out and put pressure on Connolly who was allowed to get a flick on it, so it was a poor goal from our perspective.
“But on balance I think it was a fair result. Every time you come away and get something away from home it’s a good point, and this was a hard-earned point, there’s no doubt, but you can’t help feel it’s tinged with disappointment because of the late timing of the equaliser and how it came about.
“But if you don’t put your chances away when you’re 1-0 up then you are always susceptible to a sucker punch, although I maintain that on balance it was a fair result.”
