Coventry City supporters will be sticking firmly to the old adage that pre-season results matter little ahead of a new campaign after Saturday’s 5-2 defeat at the hands of West Bromwich Albion ended a series of friendlies that proved less illuminating for manager Mark Robins than he would have hoped.
A little bit of perspective is needed on the Baggies result as the Sky Blues were facing a side who actually ended last season as one of the Premier League’s form sides under new manager Darren Moore and have clearly carried some confidence with them despite it ultimately not being enough to prevent their relegation.
Playing away from home against a team from a higher division isn’t normal pre-season preparation but the twin circumstances of the Cyrille Regis Memorial and the unavailability of the Ricoh Arena for friendlies made it so.
Robins clearly wasn’t happy when interviewed afterwards but his side won’t be running into opposition of a similar quality on too many occasions in 2018/19 and City are, after all, a team that finished 7th in League Two last season.
That isn’t to say we shouldn’t have decent expectations for the year ahead given the momentum the Sky Blues gained from those glorious play-off victories, the lack of turnover in the squad (McNulty apart), the early business in the transfer market and the hopeful emergence of a couple more youngsters to break through into the first-team.
The gap between League Two and League One wasn’t too great last season when all four promoted clubs had good campaigns in 2017/18 with Portsmouth and Plymouth Argyle pushing for the play-offs.
And for City to even be in this position is one that we would certainly have taken this time last year or even prior to the play-offs beginning when winning at Wembley still seemed a tall order.
In Robins We Trust!
