Mark has mountain to climb
MARK ROBINS admitted the Sky Blues’ play-off hopes are looking bleak.
Coventry’s fight for the top six scrap nosedived as they suffered a massive pre-Wembley wobble.
They now trail Norwich by eight points and Robins reckons that could be too big a deficit.
If the Sky Blues had one eye on the FA Cup semi-final clash with Manchester United, then they were quickly given a jolt.
Robins said: “That was just nowhere near good enough.
“We made poor decisions and looked lethargic.
“We’ve given ourselves a mountain to climb now. I think Norwich are too good but we have to just keep going.
“One thing for sure is we will have to be better than that against United – and we will be.”
Relegation-threatened Birmingham took a 12th-minute lead when Bobby Thomas deflected a Keshi Anderson shot into his own net.
Coventry were unlucky not to equalise when Haji Wright lobbed the ball over keeperJohn Ruddy but his effort hit the bar.
But just before half-time the home side doubled their lead when Ivan Sunjic drilled in a low shot after seizing on Liam Kitching’s headed clearance.
On the hour mark, Birmingham effectively put the game beyond reach when Tyler Roberts superbly slipped the ball into Jay Stansfield’s path before the Fulham loanee poked a shot into the bottom corner.
This was only Birmingham’s second win in 11 games but things now look a little brighter.
Blues’ stand-in manager Gary Rowett said: “It’s a much better feeling but we can’t get carried away.”
BIRMINGHAM: Ruddy 7; Laird 7, Bielik 7, Sanderson 7, Buchanan 7; Sunjic 8, Paik 7 (Gardner (88) 5); Miyoshi 8 (Bacuna (82) 5), Roberts 8 (Hall (76) 5), Anderson 7 (James (76) 5); Stansfield 8 (Hogan (82) 5)
COVENTRY: Collins 4; Latibeaudiere 5, Thomas 5 (Tavares (46) 5), Kitching 5, Bidwell 5 (Dasilva (46) 5); Sheaf 5, Torp 5 (Eccles (46) 5); Van Ewijk 5, Palmer 5 (O’Hare (72) 5), Wright 5; Simms 5
STAR MAN: Tyler Roberts – Two key passes which led to goals engineered a crucial win for the home side.
REF: Thomas Bramall 7