ACE HAMER ‘TOUCH AND GO’ TO FACE HORNETS
SKY BLUES ALSO SWEAT ON ILLNESS VICTIM KYLE FOR VICARAGE ROAD TRIP
MARK Robins says Gustavo Hamer is ‘touch and go’ to be fit for Coventry City’s Championship trip to Watford today as the squad continues to battle illness that has swept through the training ground.
The Sky Blues star midfielder suffered a ‘dead leg’ in Tuesday night’s superb 1-0 CBS Arena win over second-placed Blackburn Rovers – while stand-in skipper Kyle Mcfadzean was sent home just before kick-off with a high temperature.
Hamer, fans may recall, shone at Vicarage Road almost exactly two years ago to the day this weekend when he scored with a brilliantly improvised header from outside the box in a game in which City looked to be heading for a point until a late penalty handed the Hornets a 3-2 win.
Asked for an update on Hamer’s condition yesterday, Robins said: “He is touch and go, there’s no doubt. We’ll see over the next 24 hours.”
As for the sickness bug in the camp, the City boss revealed: “It’s still hindering us and there are still bits floating around. It’s not ideal but we have to deal with it and, as we speak at the moment, we are still waiting for players to come in.
“It varies person to person but flutype symptoms, temperature and sickness as well and more besides. Feelings like you have been hit like a truck and all the bits and pieces that go with nasty bugs at this time of year.”
Asked whether key central defender Mcfadzean has recovered enough to travel to Watford, Robins said: “I don’t know yet. It’s still early and he hasn’t trained, so we have to make a call on that later on.”
There was good news regarding Liam Kelly’s recovery from a knee injury suffered just as the midfielder was about to return from a long-term hamstring strain.
“He’s had an injection which needed four days to settle so he will start back on Monday and we’ll see how he is then,” said Robins.
“It’s better news and we’ll see how he is and starts trying to train again.”
Robins has challenged the Sky Blues to build on the midweek win against Blackburn, a result which dragged them out of the bottom three, when they head to Slaven Bilic’s sixth-placed Watford. The Hornets climbed to sixth in the standings after defeating Cardiff City 2-1 on Wednesday night.
“That (Blackburn victory) was one of the best, but I think all wins are good results, but I would say the performance in the first half was really good and was a better level and we need more of that,” he said.
“There are three games now in quick succession before we break for the World Cup which is a strange feeling. On one hand we hopefully will get everyone clear of an illness and they get a little bit of a breather and we get people closer to fitness again for when we come back but there’s
We’ve had a reasonable run of form and results over the last ten games and we want to continue that.
Mark Robins
three really tough games before that happens and none more so than on Saturday.”
He added: “We’ve had a reasonable run of form and results over the last ten games and we want to continue that, there’s no doubt about that, and the opponents tomorrow are one of the real fancied teams and rightly so.
“They have quality and pace everywhere and wherever you look your mindful that they have top players.
“They played a day later [than we did], but whether that makes any difference I don’t know because they have a really big squad, and they may make changes but ultimately, they’re a quality squad with a lot of depth and you expect them to be strong whatever team they put out.
n City have confirmed that next week’s final two home games before the World Cup break will go ahead as planned at the CBS Arena.
There was doubt cast over Tuesday night’s match with Blackburn when a buyer for the Sky Blues home stadium hadn’t been found ahead of Monday afternoon’s deadline.
The Arena’s operating company Arena Coventry Limited (ACL) has since applied for administration and a preferred bidder has been identified to buy the facility – a situation which means the stadium can continue to operate normally for the time being.
The football club yesterday confirmed home matches against Wigan Athletic on Tuesday (Nov 8) and then QPR on Saturday (Nov 12) will go ahead.
“Coventry City can confirm to our supporters that our upcoming home games against Wigan Athletic and QPR will be hosted at the Coventry Building Society Arena as planned,” said a statement. The situation affecting Arena Coventry Limited will not displace the fixtures and we look forward to welcoming supporters to the Arena next week.”