Mark Robins admits his Coventry City side failed to turn up until the second half in what could prove to be a costly defeat at Southampton.
The Sky Blues binswent down 2-1 at St Mary’s Stadium in their game in hand over nearest play-off rivals Norwich City, who drew 2-2 at Sheffield Wednesday, meaning City are five points off sixth placed Canaries with five games to go to the end of the Championship season.
City trailed 2-0 at the break after Haji Wright had missed an early penalty when he slipped at the vital moment.
“Obviously it would have been a different story had Haji not slipped for the penalty but it could have been a different story in the first half because we just didn’t compete. We didn’t arrive until half-time, so they have to decide whether they want to be challengers or not.
“And I think in the first half they decided we weren’t going to be and let them have too easy goals. I have been told the first goal is a hand ball (by Che Adams) but there’s nothing I can do about it, so that’s disappointing if it is.
“The penalty miss obviously had an impact because if we’d have scored that we knew the crowd was edgy, and that would have given us a little bit of a foothold. But then we didn’t lay a glove on them for the first 45 minutes and that’s what cost us the game. We won the second half but that’s scant consolation.
“But let’s face it, they are a good team with really good players who move the ball quickly and if you don’t limit their rotations then they are always going to cause you all sorts of problems, and that’s what happened in the first half. We were much better after the break but it’s a setback for us.”
