FOOTBALL: SKY Blues skipper Michael Doyle admitted he didn’t realise quite how good his ‘worldie’ strike against Wycombe Wanderers was until after the game.
The 36-year-old scored from 45 yards during Coventry’s 3-2 win against the Chairboys in December, and his strike helped set Mark Robins’ men up for what was a positive festive campaign.
Partly as a result of Doyler’s strike, Coventry are now one point clear of fourth placed Wycombe in third – the final automatic promotion spot.
Asked by the Observer to be honest about whether he meant it, Doyle said: “To be honest with you at the time I meant to intercept the pass, the lad has backed off so I just thought, ‘I’m just hitting this back where it’s going into the area. I’m not saying I meant to score the goal.
“I didn’t realise how good the goal looked at the time.
“I thought it was a loopy shot, I thought it looked a bit spawney.
“But then I watched the video after the game and thought ‘oh my god was that me’.
“We had Wycombe under pressure, they were playing deep, so I thought, ‘this is going back in’.
“Fortunately for me the ball hit the crossbar and went in. I’ll definitely take it.”
Injuries to Jodi Jones, Tony Andreu, Liam Kelly and Peter Vincenti have forced Robins into making regular changes to his starting line-up.
Injuries have opened the door for Tom Bayliss, who has linked up well with Michael Doyle during his five appearances for the Sky Blues thus far.
And Doyle is pleased with how the youngster is progressing.
He said: “I’ve talked to Tom about consistency – performing consistently week in week out is key.
“In the games he’s played in so far he’s been brilliant. He’s embracing the game and hopefully that will continue.
“We seem to be playing with a different team every week.
“But the manager has the option of using players that want to play. We’ve had a few positive results along the way to boost confidence.”
Looking ahead to tomorrow’s game against Stoke, Doyle said it’s a game the Sky Blues can ‘look forward to’.
“We picked up some good points over Christmas,” said Doyle.
“We’ve been under pressure in the last few games, but the younger lads have stepped up.
“And tomorrow will be a new experience for them. Hopefully they’ll embrace it and perform well.
“It won’t be a game where we can carry a couple of players through. We’ll have to stand up to them.”