LETHAL U’S STICK IT TO SKY BLUES
MARK Robins felt his Coventry City side were hard done by as they went down to defeat at Cambridge.
Headed goals from Jabo Ibehre and Uche Ikpeazu won the match for the U’s, but they were reliant on a string of saves from goalkeeper David Forde, who had earlier scored an own goal, to preserve their lead in a frantic finish to the match.
Substitute Maxime Biamou also missed a glorious chance to equalise, leaving Robins to reflect on what might have been.
“We didn’t deserve to lose, and the reaction of our supporters at the end told its own story,” said Robins.
“They felt the result was unjust, and it was unjust.
“We had chance after chance in the second half but if we don’t deal with crosses into the box, we’ll get punished.
“The amount of opportunities we created today will still put us in good stead. It didn’t get us any points, but I’m pleased with what I saw.
“We are starting to look like a team that can create chances at will, and we’ve just got to keep going and bounce back from this result.”
Ibehre and Ikpeazu dominated the Sky Blues defence in the first half, with Ibehre getting between the centre-backs to head in the opener from Piero Mingoia’s cross in the tenth minute.
Although Coventry enjoyed plenty of possession, Cambridge mainly kept them at arms’ length, with Forde only called into action to parry a Duckens Nazon shot.
The game became more stretched in the second half, with Coventry winger Jodi Jones tormenting the U’s back line.
There was an element of fortune about the equaliser, with Nazon’s shot hitting the post, then Forde’s back, before rolling into the net, but Coventry should have been in front by the time Ikpeazu nodded in from another Mingoia centre.
At the death, Biamou headed wide from close range, Jones hit the bar and Nazon and Michael Doyle were denied by Forde.
Cambridge have won three of their last four, and boss Shaun Derry said: “I thought we saw two good sides out there. “Coventry are a decent team and having only conceded three times this season, we knew they’d be a tough nut to crack. “We had a great result at Crewe on Tuesday and the players took those confidence levels into this game. “We needed a bit of luck, and the goalkeeper’s pulled off a couple of decent saves at the end, but that shouldn’t take away from the quality of our performance. “We got a lot of crosses into the box and a couple of those have paid off to get us a win.”