Mark Robins was “delighted” to pick up all three points against Southend United on Saturday afternoon, as the Sky Blues went 10 games unbeaten in Sky Bet League One.
Substitute Callum O’Hare opened the scoring on the hour mark with a fine run from deep inside the Southend half before slotting the ball home to hand City a deserved lead.
Max Biamou then sealed the points 11 minutes from time, having also been introduced from the bench, when he outmuscled a Southend defender before calmly finishing past Mark Oxley.
The win means City are now 10 games unbeaten in League One and Robins couldn’t hide his delight at the result.
Robins said: “It’s a great result, the conditions weren’t great, but we got the job done.
“We hit the post and bar three times, we were knocking on the door, the tempo wasn’t there, we needed to up the tempo but also try and carry on probing.
“They got on top a little bit in some of the early exchanges of the second half, the changes made a difference by coming on and killing the game off.
“Again, thanks to the supporters, it’s amazing the fact it’s been well-documented on the news that the weather was going to be horrendous and they still came out and supported us.
“We’re really thankful for that, they got around us brilliantly and we’ve given them a two-nil win to sing about, they were brilliant, fantastic.
“I’m delighted with the three points, it was one of those days where you get up in the morning and its horrendous conditions and we’ve dealt with that and hopefully we can see the back of these conditions and get on with playing some football.”
The manager made a double substitution early in the second half, with O’Hare and Biamou replacing Jordan Shipley and Zain Westbrooke respectively.
The changes worked wonders for the Sky Blues, with O'Hare scoring five minutes after his introduction to the game, and Robins was full of praise for the contribution of all of his players on Saturday afternoon.
“Callum and Max came on, Matty needed a little bit of support, Shipperz and Zain played their part really well and the changes just meant it gave them a different problem.
“They contributed brilliantly, Jamie’s come out, he’s had a breather today and I’ve got good players who have contributed brilliantly, and they’ll continue to do that for the rest of the season.
“They’re all good players, I was looking at trying to get some width on the left-hand side and looking to try and utilise Ryan Giles and trying to get him on, but I couldn’t get him on because Franky would have gone with his next foul.
“That was really an enforced change and that was the only sort of downside to things, although Pasky has come on and filled in really well for him, I’m really pleased with the three points, we move on, and I’ll give them a bit of a breather now until we play next week.”
Robins was also pleased with the professional approach his side took to the game once O’Hare had edged City in front.
“It’s a really good result, it’s always a tough place to come, regardless of what predicament they may find themselves in at this moment in time, they’ve had some good results, they haven’t been too bad in terms of the performances.
“It was just a matter of being professional and seeing the game out once we got our noses in front and not giving them a sniff, but we kept giving them sniffers because the conditions made it very difficult for both teams.”
With games coming thick and fast, Robins also stressed the importance of keeping his squad fresh as City look to continue building momentum as they head into the business end of the season.
“It’s important, you have to be able to keep people fresh and if I feel that there’s an option where we’re going to be fresher then I’ll utilise it.
“We still have to learn, the danger is that it’s going to really well, we have to not stop listening and keep picking up information and using the information properly and then we can enjoy the rest of the games.
“We’ve got a really good opportunity to keep going, to keep performing, and I want them to be hungry for that.”