Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Blackburn Rovers, Mark Robins praised the Sky Blue Army’s travelling support ahead of their biggest following of the season and believes it will spur the players on at Ewood Park.
“There are almost 4000 supporters going and it will be a really noisy atmosphere which is brilliant.” Robins said.
“That is motivation in itself and they are with the players 100% and that is massively important. I say it every week and to have that number there and the noise they’ll generate will be invaluable.
“Their role has been significant from time immemorial; I think they are a fantastic group of people who are great fans that get behind the team and the players and you saw the atmosphere at Luton they were absolutely brilliant.
“They are aware of it and overtime they are aware of how significant impact they have on the players. They are young men and regardless of if they are as experienced as Liam Kelly and Kyle McFadzean, knowing the supporters are with you gives us massive confidence to carry on with purpose.”
The Sky Blues return to the county that provided them with their only win on the road so far this season, at Blackpool in August, and Robins is conscience that his side needs to see performances rewarded with points when on their travels.
“In terms of points picked up we need to but really you look at performances and generally they’ve been good apart from the Luton game where we got annihilated on the evening, it was a poor game from our perspective but they were brilliant.
“We’ve set some goals for the next block of games and we’ll see where we are but that’s all we can do, it’s a real challenge playing any game of football in the Championship but if we can keep concentrating on performance levels we’ll be able to pick up more points away from home.
“We look at everything, preparation, what we do, what we say and how we say it, there is so many different facets you can go into it but ultimately it is about us turning up, being ready to go and playing our game against opponents that are very good.
Finally, City will face a familiar face in the home dugout with Tony Mowbray in charge of Rovers and Robins believes he has built a good side in his four years there which will prove a real test for the Sky Blues.
“They are a strong side, a strong unit, there is going to be maybe one or two players that he (Mowbray) hasn’t got available for him but regardless they are a really strong group.
“Tony is a top manager who has been here before and knows the club and is somebody that likes to play football but also has some men in his side that know the game and know the Championship inside out.
“When Tony was here and it was very difficult, but he had a positive impact on the club then again when he went to Blackburn he had a positive impact there, got promoted the first time of asking and since then he has built steadily.
“The team has changed from last year, they’ve got Ben Bereton Diaz who is now playing for Chile and scored two goals this week back to back.
“You always want to preform against the best players that they’ve got available and he would fit into that category but Sam Gallagher as well, Tyrhys Dolan who’s been playing in there and they’ve got some really talented players and some really good experience so we look forward to the game.”