Jordan Shipley has urged his Sky Blues teammates to ‘keep pushing forward’ to continue their impressive start to the League One season at Oxford United.
Coventry City are unbeaten in their first five matches in the league, and Shipley is pleased with the start him and his teammates have made.
“We’ve had a good start” he said. “Personally, I feel I have done well; we’ve just got to keep plugging away now and keep pushing forward.”
“We want to keep that (unbeaten) run going. All the lads are thinking positively going into the game on Saturday, and hopefully we’ll go out there and get three points.”
Perhaps more impressively, City are yet to concede a goal at St Andrew's in the league. Shipley believes that the surface at St Andrews may be a factor.
“It’s a nice pitch, and I think for the football that we play, that pitch is needed. Anyone can see when they go to the (home) games, how well we play and what football we do play.”
The Sky Blues tasted defeat for the first time in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup Second Round exit to Premier League side Watford, but Shipley was keen to stress that the dressing room didn’t feel this as much of a setback. “They were a good side. They have Premier League quality, and that showed in the end. I thought the boys did well, and gave it their all.”
Jordan goes into the game on Saturday off the back of signing a new deal that will keep him at the club until July 2021. He told us it was an easy decision for him.
“Everyone who knows me knows how I feel about this club, so I am really happy to be here for another two years”, he said.
“No persuasion was needed. I’m really happy to be involved with and be playing for the club I love.”
The Sky Blue Army have embraced having ‘One of our Own’ starting in centre midfield, and no-one is happier than the man himself when the chant goes up in the stands.
“I still get goosebumps watching Notts County (2017/18 Play Off Semi Final second leg). It’s always nice to hear that.”
Shipley feels that he has won the fans over with his displays at the start of this season. He said, “When I came in I was playing on the left, whereas now I’m in my preferred position and I think I have been doing really well.
“I have seen people on social media saying that last season they were criticising me but this season I have won them over. Its nice to see that.”
Whilst playing in his preferred position this season, there are still a number of options in centre midfield for manager Mark Robins to choose from.
New signing Callum O'Hare played on Tuesday and impressed despite the result. Shipley feels that this competition is important. He said, “It’s healthy. It’s good to have competition; if we didn’t, all the boys would start slacking off. He’s come in and has applied pressure to everyone’s positions, which keeps us all on our toes and working hard.”
In terms of his aims for this season, Jordan wants to become more clinical and build on his three goals from last term. “If I keep shooting then I’m going to score more goals than last season”, he said. “That’s a target for myself, as well as assisting. I’m looking forward to the task.”
The squad have a collective aim as well - promotion. Shipley is hopeful that this can be achieved. He said, “We want promotion back to the Championship. It’s where we think we should be; it’s what we all want this year, so we’re going to keep pushing on and see where it takes us.”