Coventry boss Robins grateful for slice of luck in victory at Oxford
Posted Sunday, September 09, 2018 by PA
Coventry City manager Mark Robins admitted the deflection which brought Jordan Shipley the opening goal in Sky Blues’ 2-1 win at Oxford was just the stroke of luck his team needed.
Shipley’s 64th-minute shot took a big deflection off an Oxford defender to fly past goalkeeper Jonathan Mitchell.
And then, when Shipley was brought down by the keeper nine minutes from time, Conor Chaplin converted the penalty to send City towards a first away win of the season.
Substitute Jon Obika pulled one back for the U’s on 86 minutes but Coventry held out to avenge their Carabao Cup loss at the Kassam Stadium three weeks ago.
Robins said: “It was a really tight contest and I thought we just edged it.
“‘Shippers’ got himself in a great position to get a shot away but it’s taken a deflection.
“That’s what you’re looking for in our situation, because we hadn’t been scoring too many goals – just something to get us going and kick-start us.
“Shipley then made a great run and was brought down by the keeper and Conor has put away the penalty nicely.
“It’s taken a hell of a lot of work to get ourselves two goals up. And we then conceded a rubbish goal from a set piece.
“But we held out under a bit of pressure at the end, without really looking in too much danger. We had to work really hard to get this second league win.”
Robins also had a word of praise for keeper Lee Burge, who made one super save.
“Lee made a great save at a vital time for us. He’s back in the team and performing well, which is good news for us.”
Robins added: “I think Oxford are a decent side and they’ve got some good players for this level. So to get the win and get up towards a better place in mid table is very pleasing.”
Oxford United boss Karl Robinson said: “For the first 20 minutes of the second half we were atrocious.
“We felt we were comfortable and we didn’t feel they were hurting us in any way.
“But we missed a glaring chance and then they score from a wicked deflection. It was a very unlucky goal.
“The pitch was sticky which made it difficult for our wide players. But the star-studded players we have didn’t really have enough influence on the game.
“It seems when we play well we’re really good but then when teams want to get in our face, we don’t want to know.
“Some of my players were not emotionally ready for this game. Emotionally, when things go against us, we’re not very good.
“I was tearing my hair out because I was seeing players doing things we’ve never worked on. There are lots of little things we can do better.
“We always feel we can score but we’ve lost our momentum. And the league form is not acceptable.”
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