Robins stays grounded after Gooden puts Coventry top

Matt Gooden’s early goal proved enough for Coventry City to beat Sunderland yesterday and move to the top of League One.

Gooden scored after just two minutes at St Andrew’s as Coventry extended their unbeaten run to 13 games. Sunderland thought they had equalised through Max Power but his strike deflected in off Luke O’nien, who was offside.

The result leaves the visitors in fifth, four points behind secondplaced Rotherham in the automatic promotion spots.

“We just have to do what we are doing,” said Coventry manager Mark Robins. “We have Ipswich next and we will need to keep playing well. There are a lot of tough games to come, there are no easy games.

“We had a brilliant start today and one we needed against a strong powerful team who are full of confidence. To score a goal of that quality and keep a clean sheet is pleasing, we had to defend well at times. We knew their ‘goal’ was offside. We thankfully don’t have VAR, but the officials have got the right decision.”

Sunderland manager Phil Parkinson had no complaints about the disallowed goal but was disappointed with elements of his side’s display.

“It is frustrating to have got off to the start that we did. There was a lack of communication in and around our box and we were punished,” he said.

“It was always going to be a tough game and when you give a team a goal start so early it gives them a boost. I thought the effort was there but we were just a bit frantic today and lacked quality.”