Highlights and reaction as City beat Coventry

Last updated : 14 February 2021 By Michael Morris

Mick McCarthy: "Three wins on the bounce is good in any league, but in this league it’s particularly good.” Mick began. “We looked a bit knackered at the end to be honest, but we stuck with it, and it was a great result.

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“I do think Coventry caused us some problems in the first half. I didn’t think we kept the ball well enough, but we got the first goal, and goals do change games.

“Having had Bristol and then Rotherham, and the week that we’ve had in terms of travel, it’s a particularly good result, I think.

“Josh (Murphy)was terrific in winning the ball back for the first goal, and Kieffer (Moore) saw the benefit of that hard work. It was a great finish, and the second one was a bit of a tap-in. But he’s getting his goals, and as a centre-forward it’s nice when you score different types of goals.

“Every time Josh has come onto the pitch, he’s had an impact. We know he’s got real quality, like the pass he found on Tuesday night at Rotherham. I ask him to track back and be disciplined in the middle third, and then he can show his magic and those dancing feet in the final third.

“Between myself and TC, I think we’ve got a knack of getting the best out of players, by giving them a bit of belief and confidence. I’m always pleased if we can get the best out of players, because that really helps and inspires me.”

Mick concluded his press conference by commenting on the introduction of midfielder Rubin Colwill, who came off the bench to make his First Team debut against the Sky Blues.

“They were having enough possession that I needed all the experience I could get to be on the pitch. But Rubin went on, and he added another bit of height as well.

“He’s got a really good future in the game. I’m really excited by Rubin, and he’s a lovely kid as well.”

Mark Robins:

“It was the poorest performance of the season in terms of our ability to fight against a team that fights, we’ve reacted to that with 15 minutes to go which isn’t good enough.

“The chances that they had and the goals that they scored, we gave them, you can’t do that and expect to win games or draw games or even compete, there were too many non-performers, it was very disappointing.

“The last 15 minutes of the game, we started to create chances but it was too late, at half-time, even when you’ve given them two goals, there is always a way back into the game.

“We have to be able to fight, scrap, create and then take our chances and not give opportunities away, it was just too easy for them today which is something I’m really angry about, I don’t think we deserved anything from the game.”

The manager also acknowledged there is no time to dwell on Saturday’s display with a home game against league leaders Norwich City coming up in midweek.

“We missed some chances but we haven’t created enough, it was just huff and puff, at times we’ve missed having two strikers up front because Matty Godden and Tyler Walker have been out and we want to try to get them back into a position where we can play like that and give ourselves a better chance of scoring goals.

“There’s a process of getting there, clearly it hasn’t been good enough today, it was a major disappointment, there still needs to be more scrapping and more fighting from minute one to earn the right to play.

“We got ourselves a goal and had a lot of opportunities, Callum O’Hare has been kicked from pillar to post, it’s just been a really poor afternoon but we have to dust ourselves down and get on with it with another game on Wednesday.”