Mark Robins to make late fitness call on Coventry City star ahead of Stoke test
Coventry City injury news from CoventryLive as Mark Robins provides an update on Sky Blues midfielders Callum O’Hare and Jamie Allen
Mark Robins says he’ll make a fitness call on Callum O’Hare later today (Fri) as Coventry City prepare to make the relatively short trip to Stoke this weekend. The Sky Blues boss took the decision to rest his star attacking midfielder for the long midweek match to Plymouth Argyle, when he said the player was suffering with “soreness and fatigue” after the sheer amount of games had caught up with him following almost 12 months out with injury.
“He was disappointed, one hundred percent upset he couldn’t make it but ultimately it’s the right decision, and hopefully we’ll get the benefit from that on Saturday,” said the manager after Wednesday night’s 2-2 draw at Home Park.
Asked, however, for an update on O’Hare’s condition, Robins cast an element of doubt about his availability to face the Potters, saying in his pre-match press conference: “I have got to look at him and see what he’s like today.”
The City boss admits he has to “get the balance right” in terms of managing his players’ fatigue and energy levels ahead of what will be Coventry’s eighth game in the space of just four weeks.
There are a lot of things in Wednesday’s game that were OK and a lot that weren’t OK,” he said. “We have got to be better than that and we will be better but we just need to get the balance right in the upcoming games, and hopefully we can get people right and ready to go.
“The difference is we played on Sunday and travelled to Plymouth on Wednesday. They played on Wednesday as well but they’ve had a bit more time to train and get ready. But it’s all about us, not them (Stoke), and we have to make sure we do everything we can in every aspect of our recovery to go again on Saturday.
We’re taking another brilliant travelling support and we want to do the best for them. It’s just that understanding of what it’s like in the Championship and getting through periods like this when you’re trying to be successful.”
City continue to be without midfielders Ben Sheaf (hamstring tear) and Jamie Allen (fractured cheekbone) for the next five to six weeks, with the latter having had an operation to fit titanium plates to repair the damage from an elbow to the face.
