TEMPTING FATE
COADY ADMITS PLAYERS WATCH THEIR RIVALS AND PRAY THEY DROP POINTS
LEICESTER City must focus on themselves as the battle for Championship promotion intensifies – but defender Conor Coady admits it can be difficult to resist the temptation of watching their rivals and wishing for their downfall, writes Jordan Blackwell.
Despite back-to-back defeats, promotion is in City’s hands.
No matter what anybody else does, three wins from four will earn them a place in the Premier League, while four victories sees them go up as champions.
However, after those losses to Millwall and Plymouth, there has been a rallying cry in the squad over their performances and the need to focus on their own game.
But amid such a tight battle at the top, it’s hard to ignore how Ipswich, Leeds and Southampton are getting on.
This weekend, City play first, hosting West Brom on Saturday lunchtime (12.30pm), with Southampton at home to Cardiff at 3pm.
Leeds then travel to Middlesbrough for the Monday night game, with Ipswich enjoying a weekend off.
The Tractor Boys’ game against Coventry has been postponed because of the Sky Blues’ FA Cup semi-final appearance.
Speaking on BBC 5 Live, Coady, left, said: “Whether I should or I shouldn’t do it, I look at the other results.
“You’re hoping they’ve lost if you’ve won to gain a bit of ground or bridge a gap.
“The last couple of weeks with Leicester, we’ve had a tough time.
“We’ve spoken as a team over the past week in terms of the results we’ve had.
“Because we can’t concentrate on anybody else, we can’t affect what anybody else is doing, so we’ve looked at ourselves and said ‘It’s us and that’s it’.
“We focus on ourselves. That’s how we believe we’ve got to be.
“When you get to the end of the season, you’re within touching distance of what you’re desperate for and what you’ve worked all season for.
“But I’d be silly if I sat here now and said I don’t look at any results. It’s the first thing you do.
“You can have managers or people around you telling you not to check on it. But it’s the first thing you do.
“When they’re on the telly, you watch them and you’re praying they drop points. It’s a natural thing to do.
“But you’ve got to curb it and make sure you’re doing your job when it comes to training and playing.”
Coady will be hoping he can force his way into the team to face West Brom this weekend.
In all competitions, City have only kept two clean sheets in their last 12 – the FA Cup victory over Bournemouth and Championship win at Sunderland – and those are the only two games Coady has started since the beginning of February.