MARK Robins insists Coventry City’s remarkable run to the FA Cup semi-finals will remain with the club for a long time.
The Sky Blues cruelly lost on penalties to 12-time winners Manchester United after producing a miraculous late comeback from three-nil down to take the game to extra time.
And the defeat was even more painful for City after VAR ruled out Victor Torp’s 121st minute winner for offside following a lengthy check with Haji Wright marginally offside in the build up.
However, despite the cruel nature of the defeat, Robins is proud of his players for taking United all the way to penalties.
Robins said: “We scored a goal that was given offside for a toenail, psychologically, you’re 20 seconds away from going to an FA Cup final and 30 seconds later you’re in a penalty shootout.
“That can put you on the back foot a little bit but there’s no criticism, anybody who shows the courage to pick up the ball and take a penalty in that cauldron, I’m really proud of everybody.
“The players, staff and supporters were absolutely outstanding and this FA Cup run will be spoken about in Coventry City circles for a long, long, time.
“Whilst I’m disappointed for everybody, we can’t be too down about it, we’ve gone toe-to-toe with Manchester United and come from three-nil down and almost won it with a fourth.”
The semi-final was City’s first in the FA Cup for 37 years and marked the club’s second Wembley appearance in as many seasons.
And Robins believes Coventry’s run to the semi-finals should bode well for the club’s summer recruitment plans with the Sky Blues firmly heading in the right direction on and off the pitch.
Robins added: “It’s brilliant for the club, when you’re looking to kick on and recruit, the club has been in the doldrums for so long, we’re certainly out of that period.
“We’ve just got to keep moving forward which is why we won’t feel sorry for ourselves, we’ll just move on and move past it and try and build towards an exciting end to the season.
“The lads who came on were brilliant, they picked up the mantle and really had a go, they clearly showed their disappointment at not starting the game.
“They’ve given themselves a real chance for the rest of the season and moving forwards, it’s really unfortunate but the supporters were a massive part of that and they’ll remember that for a long time.”
Reflecting on the game, Robins felt the Sky Blues were too passive prior to Ellis Simms reducing the deficit but then exploited a tiring United to force extra time.
He said: “We didn’t really participate in the game as an attacking force in the first half and just as we were trying to make changes to give us some attacking threat we concede the third goal.
“It’s easier to play when you’re three-nil down, the second goal gets everybody’s tails up, the supporters are involved and that’s what we were after.
“They started to drop away, they were leggy and we were trying to exploit that. I’m proud of the way the players took to the game, the last hour was more like us.
“It was more of a swashbuckling performance, that’s how Manchester United usually play.”
Coventry are next in action at home to Hull City on Wednesday, April 24 with kick-off at 7.45pm at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
