Yahoo News Mark Robins makes admission as long-standing issue comes 'home to roost' in wake of epic Wembley effort
Mark Robins admits Coventry City’s lack of squad depth has “come home to roost” after fatigue and injuries played a part in their third successive Championship defeat.
The Sky Blues boss was forced to make five changes to his heroic FA Cup semi-final side who battled back twice from behind against a play-off chasing Hull City at the CBS Arena before conceding a late winner – with all three goals avoidable.
The first saw goalkeeper Brad Collins spill what should have been a routine save, the second was a penalty that the manager insisted was committed outside the box and the third came as a result of an under hit backpass to the keeper from Bobby Thomas – scorer of City’s second equaliser, following a stunning free-kick from Kasey Palmer.
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But Robins refused to criticise his players for their efforts in the testing circumstances, saying: “First and foremost they have done brilliantly to get through it with the energy that they have shown, from Sunday to now there was absolutely no chance of recovery. And then you run the risk of picking up injuries, which we have done.
“Callum O’Hare couldn’t make it because he just wasn’t able to function properly yet, so the game has come too soon and that’s the top and bottom of it. They haven’t had anything to do since Saturday but we have had the exertions and emotions of Sunday and dealing with that, and then preparing for this game.
“I thought everyone did really well but the only downside was a lack of concentration around the goals that we conceded because they were really poor. That’s three on the bounce we have lost in the league and it’s a long time since that’s happened, so we have just spoken about that and spoken about the goals we conceded, that aren’t great.
“But there’s absolutely nothing you can do about it because of the energy levels, and you just knew it was coming. We are lacking in certain areas in terms of the depth, and we knew that and have known it for a long time, and this is where it comes home to roost.
“It’s a difficult one because to all intents and purposes we have done as well as we possibly could do tonight; scored two really good goals at home and you would expect that to be enough to win it, especially this season for us where we have been really good here. But when you run out of steam, you run out of steam and the changes we had to make were too early in the game.
“You can’t get the energy on at the right times. Jamie Allen is just coming back and got 15/20 minutes into his legs for the first time since Sheffield Wednesday when he broke his cheekbone in the Cup.
“Binksy had a tight Achilles at half time and then just felt it in the game. I don’t know how bad that is. Joel Latibeaudiere picked up a calf problem a while back and has been managing it, and today it has caught up with him a little bit.
“We have another game coming up and it’s Saturday/Tuesday/Saturday and it’s just ridiculous really. If we are going to have to play youngsters as well, then that’s what we are going to have to do.”
