Coventry City may have succumbed to a penalty shootout defeat to League One rivals Rochdale in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday, but manager Tony Mowbray has told the Coventry Observer that there are many positives to focus on.
Rochdale achieved a 100% record on penalty kicks after 120 minutes of competitive cup football couldn’t separate the two sides in a 1-1 draw. The unlucky man to miss was summer signing Ruben Lameiras but Mowbray was quick to insist that there is still plenty to play for in the coming months for the Ricoh Arena outfit.
After the match, he commented, ‘It is disappointing but it should take nothing away from a good performance’.
Mowbray is already focusing on the next league game on Saturday when his team head to recently relegated Millwall, looking to pick up their second league win on the bounce. The opening day saw the Sky Blues record a fine 2-0 victory against promotion favourites Wigan Athletic and a similar performance will see them run Millwall very close.
The disappointment of being knocked out of the cup despite producing a performance that according to Mowbray was enough to guide them into the next round won’t affect this group of players.
The former Middlesbrough boss says the players must put the game to bed and focus on the next game.
The match saw 21-year-old goalkeeper Reice Charles-Cook make his competitive debut for the club and Mowbray insists he deserved his chance and did enough to believe he’ll be a useful understudy this season to Lee Burge. Burge is however expected to make a comeback for the Millwall game.
