Robins up front about wish for striker battle
MARK Robins has asked his Coventry City strikers to give him a selection problem ahead of this weekend’s trip to Barnet.
The Sky Blues travel to North London without leading scorer Duckens Nazon (inset right), who has hit four in his last five games for the club and got five overall since joining on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Max Biamou has come to the fore in recent weeks, operating up front with Nazon when Marc McNulty and Stuart Beavon were injured, while Jordan Ponticelli pressed his claim for a place with his first senior goal at Walsall on Tuesday night.
McNulty and Beavon started the season together as Robins’s first choice pair and could be restored to the forward line at The Hive Stadium for City’s televised clash with the Bees.
“Beavon did really well in the first half when he was the brighter of the two,” said Robins, reflecting on Beavon and McNulty’s performance at Walsall.
“I thought he did well when he came on against Crewe on Saturday and I wanted problems.
“I wanted the two of them to give me problems for the weekend. That came a little bit more for me in the second half.
“The first half put question marks over one or two things but from my point of view it was a good performance from a team that is young and was thrown together on the day, and some who hadn’t played for a while as well.” Beavon came off at half-time when he was replaced by Ponticelli, who promptly took his chance by scoring to give City a second half lead, but the 33-year-old should be fit for the weekend. “He just tightened up a little bit but I was always anticipating playing Jordan Ponticelli and it gave me an opportunity to do it maybe 15 minutes earlier than I was going to do it, but there was no hesitation,” said the manager, who was delighted with McNulty’s unselfish play that set up the teenager for his goal after getting City back on level terms from the penalty spot. As for his midfield options, Robins was boosted by the return of Ben Stevenson from injury on Tuesday night when Under23s pair Jordan Shipley and Callum Maycock caught the eye as they got valuable senior experience.
“I thought Shipley did particularly well,” said Robins.
“Callum was okay in the first half but grew into it more in the second.
“Ben has been out with an injury and he needed this game and he was a little better in the second half. He’s a top passer of the ball and yet he went through and slid one through for one of the strikers and it went out for a dead ball, and that’s not like him so that’s where they need the games to take that little bit of care.
“But some of the work they are doing in training is very, very good and they have just got to keep that going.”