Leading Coventry City into just their second FA Cup semifinal in club history, according to manager Mark Robins, is a “pinch me” moment for him personally.
The man whose Manchester United goal against Nottingham Forest in 1990 set off Sir Alex Ferguson’s incredible run of success at Old Trafford will always be associated with the competition also has a managerial legacy that will last a lifetime.
In a thrilling match on Saturday at Molineux, Coventry prevailed 3-2, with two goals in stoppage time in the second half.
After taking the lead through a contentious first goal from Ellis Simms, the Championship team lost twice in the last seven minutes of regular time before making two more goals in the seventh and tenth minutes of extra time.
It preserved their prospects of following in the footsteps of the famed Sky Blues club of 1987, who defeated Tottenham to win the cup, and of being the first team outside of the first tier to win the FA Cup since West Ham in 1980.
“To get to a semi-final; you have to pinch me a little bit,” he stated.
“It is great for the club and the support.”
When Robins scored his most famous goal, a 1-0 victory over Forest in the third round, he was barely 20 years old, and there were rumors that Ferguson’s job was on the line. He later scored the game-winning goal in extra time during the semi-final replay against Oldham and entered as a substitute during the final, although he did not play in the Wembley replay against Crystal Palace when United won their first trophy under Ferguson.
“It was 1990 and I had just broken into the team,” he stated. “This is great, there will be a ton of these, I thought. As it happened, there was just one.”
Considering the caliber of the teams that will likely be waiting for him in the semi-final at Wembley next month, Robins is not letting himself look too far ahead.
When asked if he believed his team could win the competition, he responded, “What?” “Are you aware of who is still inside? It instills in you a dread of God. We barely have a chance. We are not ignorant. We are aware. At Wembley, I anticipate a really difficult encounter, but we must have fun.”
“Among the best quarterfinal matches”
For Coventry, Simms was the star of the show.
It took nearly four minutes for the video assistant referee (VAR) to authenticate the close-range attempt that the £8 million summer acquisition from Everton scored to put the visitors ahead.
After Simms’ nearly identical effort to tie the score, Simms set up American forward Haji Wright for the winning goal.
As a result of the late drama, BBC analyst Leon Osman said, “We’ve witnessed one of the best FA Cup quarter-finals I’ve seen.”
Although Wolves manager Gary O’Neil questioned the authenticity of Simms’ opening, it was difficult to disagree with that assessment. Remarkably, this sparked to protests regarding VAR from both sets of supporters as the protracted wait for the decision persisted.
Back to Wembley
The semi-final will mark Coventry’s first visit to the stadium since they were defeated by Luton in the Championship play-off final the previous season. It also marks another checkpoint in the demands set forth by owner Doug King, who is laying out a plan for the future of the team. Coventry is emerging from a turbulent chapter in the club’s history that resulted in them leaving the city and playing games at Northampton and Birmingham City due to a disagreement between the previous ownership and the people who operated what was formerly known as the Ricoh Arena. “I am massively proud of the whole club, which has come from a really dark place over a 10-year period,” said Robins. “I am now being taken seriously and there has been a huge reconnect with the fan base. The previous Wembley trip was heartache.”
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