Nicky Eaden reflect's on the Sky Blues victory against Crawley Town in the Checkatrade Trophy...
First team coach Nicky Eaden was pleased that the Sky Blues were able to muster a response after their FA Cup disappointment.
City advanced to the last 16 of the Checkatrade Trophy after a Marvin Sordell strike was enough to maintain their 100% record in the competition.
Eaden said: “I think the most important aspect of the night was that we won the game.
“We had a lot of possession and should have created more chances throughout the game, but a win is a win and that is what knockout football is all about.
“I think the big difference was the work rate of the players and their will to win after a difficult period, and they won the battle today.”
Midfield pairing Chris McCann and Andy Rose returned to the starting XI after suffering injury layoffs, and gave City the much needed boost of experience and maturity.
After coming on as second half substitute at the weekend, it was McCann’s first start in a month, and Eaden believes he has been sorely missed.
“Chris has been a huge miss for us because he is calm on the ball and you can trust him to make the correct decision.
“You can tell he has played at a higher level the way he conducts himself. During that first half we controlled the game and kept possession really well and Chris was a part of that.”
He added: “We felt comfortably in the game for the majority. They made a couple of substitutions and went for it more, but we saw that off to a large extent and I think we deserved the win.”