Mark Robins knows Coventry are playing catch up after Accrington defeat

Coventry boss Mark Robins insists his side are now “playing catch up” after losing 2-0 to Accrington.

Jordan Clark scored a goal in each half as Stanley moved into second in League Two at the Ricoh Arena.

Robins has been calling the Sky Blues’ fans to come out in their droves in recent weeks to get behind the side’s play-off bid.

Over 28,000 fans watched from the stands as the defeat left City two points off the top seven.

A deflated Robins reflected: “We’re playing catch up [on the play-offs] now, it’s a situation we didn’t want to find ourselves in.

“We’ve still got a lot to play for but we’ve got to be better than that.

“It’s really disappointing as I’ve been asking fans to come through the turnstiles, they’ve done that in big numbers today and we haven’t given them a performance.

“We’ve had injuries, we’ve had illness, but it is what it is.

“If you don’t start right and allow them to get a rhythm then you pay the price and that’s what happened.

“They are so streetwise. They are more streetwise than any other team in the division.

“They’ve managed to old-man us again, get in front early and that kills the crowd.”

Looking to get back to winning ways at the first attempt, the Sky Blues got off to a poor start as they were behind after five minutes.

It was as simple as they come for Clark as he tapped home unmarked after Callum Johnson found him from the right-hand side.

Minutes after the restart Billy Kee rattled the crossbar with a sensational strike.

On the hour Johnson and Clark linked up again as the latter doubled his tally for the afternoon with another cool finish.

Despite going second, six points behind leaders Luton, Stanley boss John Coleman insists there is a long way to go to seal promotion.

Coleman stressed: “We’ll worry about where we are in May, there’s a long hard slog ahead.

“We’ve got a great appetite for football at the moment and you can see how much it means to them.

“All we have to do is try and take care of ourselves and our own business.

“I’m delighted with the win and the second-half performance.

“Coventry are a very good side, have a very good manager and unfortunately for him he’s had injuries and an illness in the camp. We played a depleted Coventry today.

“That’s no disrespect to the players they put out but it was a far-cry from their strongest side and we caught them on a good day.

“To get a win here is all the more pleasing because their home record has been so good this season.”