Mark Robins aims criticism at Coventry City players after Southampton

Coventry City manager Mark Robins believes that his side didn’t turn up in the first half of their match against Southampton, on Tuesday night.

The clash between the two teams saw a Southampton side who are sort of in the no man’s land between pushing for an automatic promotion spot and accepting the play-offs is their fate, and City, who have hopes of recreating their top-six finish of last season.

Those hopes took a blow last night as they fell 2-1 to the Saints, and slipped further behind Norwich City, who hold the final play-off spot, as things stand. Preston North End now sit on equal points as the Sky Blues, but their putrid goal difference keeps them behind Robins’ side.

Haji Wright missed a penalty early in the game due to a slip when taking the attempt. Soon after, an effort from Kyle Walker-Peters gave the home side the lead, thanks to a deflection from Che Adams, and the Scottish forward doubled their advantage twenty minutes later.

Robins was not happy with his side’s performance during the first 45 minutes, and he also wasn’t happy with the goals that they conceded.

Mark Robins says Coventry didn’t turn up in the first half v Southampton

The boss said that, had the missed penalty gone in, things could have gone differently, but he wasn’t pleased with what his team produced in the first period of the game.

“Obviously it would have been a different story had Haji not slipped for the penalty but it could have been a different story in the first half because we just didn’t compete,” said Robins, via the  Coventry Telegraph. “We didn’t arrive until half-time, so they have to decide whether they want to be challengers or not.

“And I think in the first half they decided we weren’t going to be and let them have too easy goals. I have been told the first goal is a handball [by Adams] but there’s nothing I can do about it, so that’s disappointing if it is.”

He added: “The penalty miss obviously had an impact because if we’d have scored that we knew the crowd was edgy, and that would have given us a little bit of a foothold. But then we didn’t lay a glove on them for the first 45 minutes and that’s what cost us the game. We won the second half but that’s scant consolation.

“But let’s face it, they are a good team with really good players who move the ball quickly and if you don’t limit their rotations then they are always going to cause you all sorts of problems, and that’s what happened in the first half. We were much better after the break but it’s a setback for us.”

Coventry will be hoping for a draw at Deepdale on Saturday

The two sides in which the Sky Blues are sandwiched in between – Norwich and Preston – face each other this weekend. A win for either side would make Coventry’s play-off hopes slimmer.

Norwich winning in Lancashire would mean that they would at least maintain their four-point gap to City and North End, and a Preston win would force Coventry to do the same to stay within reach of the top six.

But a draw would suit Robins and his team nicely, as they would still be able to catch the Canaries, if they capitalise on their games in hand on them, and the Lilywhites wouldn’t put too much pressure on them to keep up with them too.