Luke Tisdale- Sky Blues Under-23s coach and first-team manager for the night- reflected on a disappointing result against Hull City.
With Sky Blues managerial one-two Mark Robins and Adi Viveash missing the Sheffield United clash at the weekend due to Covid-19, first-team coach Dennis Lawrence fulfilled the role as City sawed to a 4-1 victory.
Robins’ side were dealt a further blow tonight against Hull City with Lawrence sidelined by a positive test, meaning Under-23s coach Luke Tisdale assumed managerial control in what was a problem stricken night for the Sky Blues.
Tisdale assessed the outcome, reviewing what went against the Sky Blues on this occasion.
“Frustrating is a good word to use, everyone knows that is not a performance level we’ve seen this season, but we’ve got to find a way of moving on quickly, the games come thick and fast so we’ll get ready for Derby on Saturday now and I’m sure the manager will find a way of analysing it when him and his staff are back in.
“We obviously didn’t start well, but I thought we reacted well to the goal and we had large spells of possession like we always do, it’s difficult to break them down and I thought they defended really well, they get lots of bodies behind the ball, compacted the spaces and stopped us from doing what we normally do.
“It felt that we gave away sloppy passes, which is not a Coventry City thing we’ve seen a lot this year, so sometimes these things happen and no one is very happy about it but it’s about how the players react and I’m sure they’ll bounce back.”
Ian Maatsen’s strike gave the Sky Blues hopes of a late goal, but was not awarded after referee Thomas Bramall deemed the ball to have not crossed the line.
Tisdale reviewed the moment and what could’ve sparked another late Sky Blues comeback.
“I don’t know, I’ve seen some footage that suggests it's gone in and Hawkeye will send the images through in the next day. I imagine, had it have gone in it probably would’ve given us a big lift with five minutes to go, we know the amount of late goals we score.
“The players say it’s in, some camera angles say it is, the goal-line technology is there for a reason and you’ve got to trust the technology, we’ve seen it go wrong once at Aston Villa a couple of years ago, since then it looks like it's been generally right, so the honest answer is, I don’t know, if the technology is wrong it’s cost us an opportunity to get a draw.”
Covid played its part in and around the Christmas period, affecting the Sky Blues’ schedule and has came back to bite them again months later.
In Robins’ absence, Tisdale revealed how the virus has affected the daily ongoings at the club and the problems that have arose as a result.
“The players have had all the information, the meetings have been delivered as normal as well as training, so in terms of preparation we’ve tried to keep it as similar as we can, it’s obviously impossible to say how much of an impact Covid has had on those certain things, but it’s made things difficult for us.
“[Mark Robins] is working from home is the best way of putting it, I’m sure he’s really frustrated too, the same way I was when I had it and I had to watch the Under-23s on YouTube, it’s horrible.
“The communication has been really good and really clear over the past two games and the messages the manager wanted to get on were received tonight, the same happened Saturday but like I say, Hull defended really well.”