Consistently effusive about Stoke City, Mark Robins couldn’t help but notice a noticeable disparity between their roster and his at Coventry upon glancing at the rear of the match day programme.
Ellis Simms’ goal in the second half gave Coventry their ninth victory in their previous 13 visits to Stoke, under the direction of Robins. This outcome keeps Stoke in 19th place, only three points above the relegation zone, and Coventry sixth in the fiercely competitive play-off battle.
Both teams made changes to their squads in the summer, but Coventry’s strict hiring strategy has helped to make up for the departures of important players Viktor Gyokeres and Gus Hamer. Since the teams drew 0-0 in the rematch in November, they have scored in each of the last 17 games, and Robins was happy with the result on the other side as well.
REACTION: Coventry vs. Stoke City
“It was fantastic—our first clean sheet in 12 games,” he exclaimed. “When the fixtures were released, we knew it was going to be a difficult week after the week we had with the traveling (they drew with Plymouth on Wednesday). I had been a little worried about the week with such a tiny squad, and then they moved the Millwall game closer to Plymouth, which was even more challenging. As you can see from the back of Stoke’s program, we both made six changes, but they have roughly ten more players than us.
“However, we persevered, which was necessary given that the game wasn’t particularly good and that there wasn’t much talent on display—the few that were included featured Ellis Simms. They are not simple because he had a lot of time to look at it and he found the back of the net beautifully, but I think his goal on Wednesday night gave him confidence and he took it brilliantly.
Haji nicking the ball and Callum releasing Ellis swiftly were both smart moves that ended with Ellis finishing well in the net. That followed three opportunities for us to score in the first half, but we failed to take advantage of them. We didn’t score, but they threw several bodies behind it, so I’m not sure how.
We would have opened it up then if that had gone in, but once more, you have to demonstrate focus, and given how many games we have left, both teams appeared to be extremely worn out. They definitely lack confidence, but they are a good team. Too often, they play backwards, which encourages teams to come on.
“They fought and closed us down quickly, but fortunately we were able to limit their chances,” he continued. “But I felt we played much better defense today.” Bobby was excellent, in my opinion, and Binksy performed admirably. We simply kept them at bay with Jay Dasilva, Joel in the first half, and Milan in the second. We made certain choices that somewhat exposed us, but we managed to get away with it and stood our ground when it was necessary.
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