Mark Robins praised the “fight and determination” his side showed after the Sky Blues won 2-0 against Brentford on Saturday lunchtime at St Andrew’s.
A brace from Tyler Walker secured all three points for City against high-flying Brentford and the manager was full of praise for his side after a difficult run of fixtures.
Robins believes Saturday’s win gives his side a platform they can build on ahead of another tough trip to Swansea City in midweek.
Robins: “It was a hard-fought win, there were some brave performances and some top performances, they showed fight and determination and that stands you in good stead.
“They’ve had 60 percent of the ball, we had that last weekend, we had a lot of possession and a lot of shots on goal and lost, today was the other way around but we’ve taken chances.
“It was a really good performance, it gives us a platform now to kick on which isn’t easy because we’ve got an away game at Swansea on Wednesday and away at Blackburn Rovers next week, we’re under no illusions, but for this game it was a really good performance against a top team.
“We’ve got players coming back now and this performance gives everybody a much-needed boost, it’s been a real big effort this week from everybody to try and give us that lift, psychologically, to go into this game with as much confidence as we possibly could do, they’ve done fantastically well and deserve all the plaudits they get for today.”
The manager also hailed the work rate of his players and praised the leadership qualities shown by Liam Kelly who was making his first start since December after suffering a groin injury against Wycombe Wanderers.
“Tyler’s second goal was outstanding, we’ve missed that, Max Biamou’s work rate and endeavour to go and close down and earn the penalty and the work rate from Callum O’Hare behind them enabled everybody to get themselves up.
“The way the back three and the midfield worked and got after the Brentford players was brave but they did it pretty well for most of the game and put them under real pressure, it was a really good out of possession performance but also in possession we were good as well.
“There was fight, spirit, determination and great communication, that comes from Liam Kelly and Matty James when he replaced him and that comes from Kyle McFadzean and the other players around them grow into that and start to learn from that.
“You need your strikers, they’re pivotal to us, both Tyler and Matty Godden and you can see what it takes out of you, Max Biamou has done brilliantly, Viktor came on and with Bakayoko the endeavour is there.”