Mark Robins makes critical point as Coventry City book place in third round of Carabao Cup

Mark Robins had mixed feelings about Coventry City’s passage through to the third round of the Carabao Cup, insisting there were some decent performances without being scintillating.

The Sky Blues secured their place in the next stage of the competition with Brandon Thomas-Asante’s first goal for the club the difference between them and Oxford United as the two sides met for the second time in 11 days at the CBS Arena.

“It’s great that we’re in the hat for the next round and it’s been an interesting start to the season; pretty good start actually, all things considered,” said the City manager, speaking after the 1-0 win.

“It’s difficult when you play teams for the second time in a short space of time and I thought we made hard work of it. In the first half we came out and you want to see speed of thought and speed of passing and movement and we didn’t get that and they dropped away into a low block in the end of the opening half. We didn’t move the ball quickly enough or make the right movements so there were a lot of things that weren’t right but a lot of things that were almost right.

“It was flat in the stadium and was one of those things where we had to spark them to get them going and they got us going in the second half when they started to make a lot more noise and that was needed. We were trying to get a spark from the players to ignite everything but thanks to the supporters they allowed us to up the ante and then the changes were pretty good and brought things to life.

He added: “Brandon’s goal was his goal – certainly it was on target when he shot and then looped up over the goalkeeper’s head and took a deflection but you can’t take that away from him. He forced a save from the keeper and Victor Torp had a good effort which was denied by a much better save from Matt Ingram.

“I thought we looked dangerous from corners and set plays we were OK but didn’t need to be anywhere near our best, thankfully, but I have said before there are no easy games and they are a difficult opponent. It’s all about what you do with the ball and I don’t think we utilised it well enough tonight but it’s early days in the season and there are things to work on. But to be in the third round for the first time in 12 years is no mean feat.”