Coventry City match response via CoventryLive: Mark Robins offers his post-match opinion on today’s goalless draw at Ewood Park.
Mark Robins thinks Liam Kitching has ‘got to learn’ after receiving his third red card of the season for Coventry City, giving him the dubious distinction of being the only player in the club’s history to be sent off three times in the same campaign.
The centre-back was sent off just after the hour at Ewood Park for a last-man professional foul on Blackburn’s Sam Gallagher, leaving a tired-looking Sky Blues to hold on for a draw and their first clean sheet in eight Championship games – the biggest positive the manager could take away from the game. Kitching now faces a three-game suspension, which means he will miss the final two games and the opening game of next season.
When asked for his thoughts on the game, Robins replied, “Um… It was a nice clean sheet. We had tired legs coming into the game, and losing a man is the last thing you want.
Unfortunately, that is what happened, and we had to make some changes, including taking one or two players off for a rest. And for obvious reasons, it felt a touch flat to us.
“So from our point of view to get a clean sheet is pleasing, so for us now we have to recover and go again on Tuesday against Ipswich.”
City were clearly still recovering from last Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final and Wednesday’s 3-2 home defeat to Hull.
“We gave it our all in the game,” remarked the manager. “There were some really terrific sequences of play, and Kels (Liam Kelly)
Aside than that, there wasn’t much in it.
“They had a lot of the ball and looked nervous, and we could have taken advantage of that, but we just didn’t have the energy or quality at times, so we had a little lull in the game.” But getting a clean sheet was necessary because we hadn’t had one in a while, so that was a plus.”
Aside from Kelly’s shot, Haji Wright had City’s best chance in the first half.
“There was a good bit of play when Callum (O’Hare) played the ball across to Haji and I think with more energy he would work the keeper,” he went on to say. “As I already stated, they require a short break, which will be provided in another week. We have two games left and need to recover well before facing Ipswich, who may be aiming for promotion depending on the outcome.So there is an incentive in itself. There are two good games left, and it definitely ends our sequence of defeats before to the FA Cup and on Wednesday evening. There isn’t much time to heal either.
Commenting on the dismissal, he said: “That’s the third time this season, so he’s got to learn, for sure. And he will miss the first game of next season, which is a great disappointment for everyone. So we need to see what we have ready to play on Tuesday evening.”
Regarding the event, he explained: “Bobby (Thomas) was there as a covering defender, but the referee declared that the player’s next action was to shoot, in his perspective. He was still 20-25 yards away, but he had made a decision, and there wasn’t much you could do about it. I don’t think there’s much use in discussing appeals at this stage.
I’ll check into it again, but he’s going to have to learn.”
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