Coventry City were still celebrating their penalty shoot-out Checkatrade Trophy triumph against Swansea City’s under-23s last night when they discovered that their League One position has become even more perilous.
Oldham’s 2-0 game-in-hand win against Peterborough last night means that the Sky Blues are now four points adrift at the foot of the table and seven behind 20th-placed Shrewsbury – and Russell Slade made it clear that he is fully focused on the weekend trip to Sixfields.
“I’m pleased for the players because they kept going – it’s been a while since they’ve been behind in a game and come back to win – and pleased for the supporters because we’re a game away from that big stadium now,” said the manager.
24.01.17 - Swansea City Under 21s v Coventry - Checkatrade Trophy - Keston Davies of Swansea City gets past Ruben Lameiras of Coventry.
“The good thing is that we’ve got bodies to come back in. We’re hoping that Stuart Beavon will train on Thursday and we’ve got Oli McBurnie to come in.
“We were a bit restricted in terms of our firepower tonight so we knew it would be a tough task against a very good side – a lot of their boys are internationals and Oli McBurnie is a sought-after striker.
“We made mistakes throughout the game but we kept going and showed a decent attitude and in my opinion deservedly got the equaliser.
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“The first half was a very technical game, waiting for each other to make mistakes, but it became more of a cup tie in the second half. We forced them into a few mistakes but we weren’t productive enough – I was disappointed we didn’t make more of our pressure in the first 15 minutes of the second half.
“Penalty shoot-outs are always hard – the last one I remember was the play-off final against Rotherham when were 2-1 up and got beaten. But to be fair to the lads they took their penalties really smartly and Reice Charles-Cook made two great saves for us.”
24.01.17 - Swansea City Under 21s v Coventry - Checkatrade Trophy - Ruben Lameiras of Coventry celebrates his sides penalty win with Reice Charles-Cook.
Slade confirmed that he has decided not to pursue his interest in former QPR midfielder Samba Diakite but will give Theo Wharton and Navid Nasseri more time to convince him they are worth a contract.
“I’ve let Samba go,” he said; “fitness wise I felt it would take too much time and we haven’t got time. We’re going to keep Theo in the building a little longer and the same with Nasseri – that was his first day with us and we threw him straight into the game but he performed well.
“We’ll keep them around for now and we’re still looking to add bodies before the window.”