‘Flat’ is how Mark Robins described his Coventry City side’s performance at bottom of the table Derby County.
The Sky Blues came from behind to snatch a stoppage time draw at Pride Park from the boot of star midfielder Gustavo Hamer, extending the side’s impressive unbeaten run to four games.
His superbly struck 25-yard drive cancelled out Colin Kazim-Richards’ opener for the Rams in a game that ended 1-1, the point enough to move City up a place to sixth from bottom.
Here’s every word from the manager’s post match interview:
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“I didn’t think we played brilliantly tonight.
“We are going to get games that are a little bit flat and I just thought it was tonight. We didn’t move the ball as well as we can do and went a little bit long without any accuracy really.
“They have changed the way they play, with Steve McClaren coming in and guiding Wayne Rooney and the coaching staff which has changed the dynamic for them and made them a little bit more difficult to play against.
“Having said that, we could have won the game 4-2!”
On two pen appeals:
“They have hit the bar and had a penalty shout which could well have been a penalty and we had one which was nailed on,” said Robins.
“So the referee has not made the right decision for the first one or the second one, but we said on Saturday, sometimes they give them and sometimes they don’t.”
Good and bad:
“Callum O’Hare has had a header which we should have scored from – a brilliant ball in from Ryan Giles.
“But we haven’t stopped crosses well enough today and we just looked flat. Sam McCallum has come back in and looked like he had missed a game, which clearly he has, and that can’t be right.
“There are things to be unhappy about and things to be happy about.
Togetherness:
“But the togetherness is brilliant, the never-say-die attitude is there and the goal was brilliant. It was a great strike from Gus who kept his eye on it, and if you see the ball dropping out of the sky like that there’s only one person you want there, and it’s Gus.
“He controlled it brilliantly and was inches away from smashing a free-kick into the back of the net.
“He had one in the first half as well where he caught it well and the goalkeeper had to make a good save. We have had quite a lot of really good opportunities and not taken them, while they have been limited to a couple of efforts.
“For us it’s a decent point at the end of a tough game, so we have to accept the point and move on.
“It’s a step forward for us, we’ve been losing games and we’re four unbeaten now so we’ll take the positives and move onto Saturday where we’ve got a bit of time to recover now.
“Being 1-0 down so late in the game we have got to be happy with the point. But, we have to turn these points away from home into wins.
Subs’ impact:
“After we scored the equaliser I thought we could have scored another goal. The way the three substitutes, the way the three up front changed the dynamic was brilliant and just what we want.
“They felt they had something to hold onto as well, they’ve got energy and changed it and they’ve got a lot of young players here that have come into the team and started to do pretty well.
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“They had too many crosses come into our box so come Saturday we have to make sure that doesn’t happen again because that’s what Rotherham do too.”
Close second yellow:
“Kazim-Richards was close to a couple of things and I thought he was at it tonight. But I also thought he was fortunate to have stayed on the pitch and, really, one foul away from getting his marching orders. But he’s a powerful lad with a lot of experience. I thought we handled that really well.
“Tom Lawrence is a top player and he didn’t really have an influence on the game, and I have seen him have a lot of influence o games before.
“I have had Duane Holmes before and know what a tricky player he is, but again, we kept his threat to a minimum and that was a good thing because if you let those players work then you are in trouble.
Unbeaten run:
“Four games uneaten and as long as we keep that clock ticking over. We have Rotherham now and Luton to come after two really tough away games. Scoring away from home, although we haven’t kept clean sheets. we have been better defensively but the togetherness is there and you can see that growing, and that’s good to see.”
