‘TIRED’ SKY BLUES RUED BY ROBINS
COVENTRY boss Mark Robins feels his side’s lack of fitness proved costly in their opening-day defeat to Scunthorpe.
Jordy Hiwula twice went close inside the first 30 minutes as the home side started strongly.
And it had looked like the Sky Blues would enjoy a dream start to life in League One when Tony Andreu gave them a 52nd-minute lead with a brilliant free-kick.
But the Iron showed their steel to level through debutant Stephen Humphrys’ cool finish on 68 minutes.
And they completed the comeback with nine minutes to go when Andy Dales hammered home from close range after good hold-up play from Duane Holmes.
Robins said: “I thought it was an encouraging performance, but we won’t see the best of us for a few weeks.
“We are not physically at our maximum yet and a few players looked tired at 75 minutes.
“At 1-1 it was difficult; we tried to give ourselves some fresh legs, but they got the goal that was disappointing from our point of view as we did not stay with the runners.
“We have created changes and hit the post and it’s a harsh reality that we have come away with nothing.
“There are positives that we can take; we played some good stuff and had them under the cosh.
“We were on top at 1-0 but were not ruthless enough in taking our chances to make it 2-0. If we had we could have made it 4-0.
“I think that will come as we keep working on the training pitch, but there are plenty of encouraging signs, especially once we get up to speed.”
Scunthorpe boss Nick Daws praised his side’s belief after their impressive late fightback.
He said: “We had a big disappointment at the end of last season after losing in the play-offs and this was the perfect reaction.
“Coventry gave a good account of themselves and really challenged us, but we showed brilliant character to hang in there at 1-0 down.
“When we got back to 1-1 I felt there was only going to be one winner. We had great energy levels and belief and we kept pushing to get that winner.
“We seemed to be that bit fresher than them towards the end and we are delighted to start with a win.
“We wanted the win and you could see the desire of the players.
“This is just the sort of character and performance we are going to need during the season.
“I thought the new boys gave a great account of themselves. “Duane Holmes was also excellent for us once again; he had a key role in both
of our goals.” COVENTRY CITY: O’Brien 6, Sterling 6, Willis 5 (Thompson 76), Hyam 6, Mason 6, Doyle 7, Ogogo 6, Hiwula 7, Andreu 7, Bayliss 6 (Shipley 77, 6), Biamou 6 (Clarke-Harris 77, 7) Subs not used: Addal, Grimmer, Brown, Ponticelli SCUNTHORPE: Watson 7, Clarke 6 (Lund, 66, 7), Goode 6, Burgess 7, Borthwick-Jackson 6, Perch 7, Horsfield 6 (Ojo 55, 7), Olomola 7 (Holmes, 58, 8) Humphrys 7, Dales 6, Novak 7 Subs not used: Flatt, Butroid, Thomas, Wootton