WEIRD AND WONDERFUL!
CITY BOSS GIVES HIS TAKE ON FA CUP ‘HOME’ TIE AGAINST BLUES
COVENTRY City boss Mark Robins has described the prospect of facing the club’s St Andrew’s landlords, Birmingham City, in the fourth round of the FA Cup as “weird”.
The Sky Blues eased past League One rivals Bristol Rovers in Tuesday night’s third round replay at their groundshare venue, beating the Gas 3-0 courtesy of a Max Biamou brace a superb debut goal from Josh Pask.
Their passage in the competition means City will now face Championship Blues at their stadium with all the privileges of the ‘home’ side, according to the FA.
“It’s something to look forward to and gives us chance to play against a Championship side,” said Robins.
“It will be weird. Weird for them to get their heads around but they will do and it’s a great game for everyone.
“For us it’s superb because it gives us a chance to test ourselves against a really good team who pass the ball well, and it just gives us a marker.
“It will be a tough ask but we’ll give it a really good go.”
Asked if City have got first claim on the home dressing room, Robins said: “We will be respectful.”
COVENTRY City served up another memorable performance as their season continues to go from strength to strength in the league and cup.
The Sky Blues put Bristol Rovers to the sword in their FA Cup third round replay at St Andrew’s, with a Max Biamou brace and fine debut goal from Josh Pask seeing Mark Robins’ side through to a mouth-watering fourth round tie against groundshare landlords Birmingham City. Here are four big talking points from the game. n Quick start
The Sky Blues raced into the lead on Tuesday night for the fourth time in the last five games, proving that Mark Robins’ men are quick off the mark to set out their intentions early.
Max Biamou’s fourth-minute opener against Bristol Rovers was the fourth time the team have scored inside the opening few minutes in recent weeks, having taken the lead inside the first minute against MK Dons last weekend and third minute against Tranmere Rovers and Wycombe Wanderers in consecutive away games before that.
Prior to that City had got themselves in front against Exeter and Portsmouth in the second and third minutes, respectively, back in August and are clearly now back in the habit of getting at teams from the first whistle to set the tone and stamp their authority on games. The impressive thing about their latest success is that they were ruthless in killing their opponents off with all-important second and third goals before the hour mark before the opposition had chance to instigate a fight-back.
n First name on team sheet
Mark Robins insisted recently that Callum O’Hare would get more game time at Coventry City in the second half of the season, having been used as an impact player in recent weeks.
And going on his man-ofthe-match display against Bristol Rovers in the FA
Cup, the Aston Villa loan man surely commands another place in the starting line-up for Saturday’s trip to Doncaster Rovers.
Putting in arguably his best performance to date, the 21-year-old ran Rovers ragged with his exceptional giveand-go movement and darting runs with the ball at his feet.
But to top it all he produced the two passes of the game for the first and second goals, threading through exquisite balls to send first Max Biamou and then Josh Pask clean through to score.
At 3-0 up Robins withdrew the exceptional young forward on the hour to a standing ovation, safe in the knowledge that he’d done his work for the night and could be rested ahead of the weekend when he will almost certainly be one of the first names on the team sheet.
n Freshened up
One of the brilliant aspects of a truly one-sided FA Cup third round replay was the fact that Mark Robins made five changes to the starting line-up that had begun the previous five games and, to a man, they put in an outstanding performance.
The manager had hinted that he would freshen things up and that’s exactly what happened with like-forlike changes at the top end of the pitch and in the wing-back positions.
Max Biamou bounced back to form with a brace to take his tally to eight, just two behind first choice Matty Godden who was rested on the night, while Callum O’Hare and Jamie Allen impressed just behind the lone front man in the roles previously executed so well by Zain Westbrooke and Jordan Shipley.
The wing-back berths, meanwhile, saw Josh Pask and Brandon Mason complete the seamless transition with similarly eye-catching displays on the flanks in place of Fankaty Dabo and
Sam McCallum, leaving Robins confident that he has genuine quality and competition for pretty much every position on the pitch.
n Pask announces his arrival
At a time when City’s rivals are busy dipping into the January transfer market to strengthen their squads for the second half of the campaign, the Sky Blues are welcoming back players from long-term injury.
Summer signing Josh Pask is a case in point, making a superb debut against Rovers some five and a half months after joining from West Ham – his delayed start due to suffering a serious ankle injury in early August.
His first competitive game in a Coventry shirt was all the more impressive for the fact that he was deployed as a wing-back for the first time in his senior career.
The 22-year-old topped his performance with a terrific finish after being played through for the all-important second goal.