Max Biamou’s late strike against Bolton was enough to earn Mark Robins’ side all three points on Saturday, in a game that looked destined for a draw following Bolton’s 77th minute equaliser.
Amadou Bakayoko had opened the scoring for City, scoring his second goal in as many starts which has pleased Robins having bought him back into the side against Birmingham on Tuesday.
Robins said: “I thought he started brilliantly, he held the ball up and linked up the play really well.
“He has got to learn when it is a one touch lay off and when to get hold of the ball but he did that brilliantly at the start and got his goal early on and he also had another one disallowed.
“He died in terms of his energy levels in the second half and that’s why I made the change and I was thinking of putting Biamou up there with him but I felt we could still cause them problems.”
The Sky Blues created a number of chances throughout the game but failed to convert them leaving themselves vulnerable to a Bolton side who grew in confidence throughout the game.
Despite the missed chances, Robins was delighted that his players came off the pitch picking up maximum points.
He said: “The quality was lacking a little bit and one or two had off days and thankfully we came off the back of the match with a great result which is brilliant and it is a massive three points.
“We didn’t kill them off, we had chance after chance and just didn’t do it, we had one disallowed in the first half and they grew in confidence from that.
“Jamie Allen has had a great chance and their keeper has had a great game and made save after save really, but we haven’t been ruthless enough and that keeps teams in it and gives teams confidence and belief and they grew in belief and had nothing to lose.
“We have to keep going and give the supporters something to shout about and at the end you can see what it means because it was a frustrating game for everybody.”
With another league game on Tuesday against promotion chasing Portsmouth, Robins is keen to see his players recover well ahead of another important game.
With the Emirates FA Cup replay also adding another fixture to the calendar last week Robins was pleased to see his players playing with such a high intensity throughout the game.
He said: “After Tuesday night you are always concerned about the energy levels and if they are going to be there and to be fair the energy levels were okay, we looked like we moved okay throughout the game.
“Again, it is a massive three points, you can’t underestimate how big a three points it is and we go into Tuesday now with the same aim, can we go and get three points against a team who are around us in the league.
“It is another game we can look forward too and we need to recover well for it.”