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MARK Robins admits to having huge sympathy for Portsmouth’s plight, but still wants to stick the boot in when Pompey take to the field at the Ricoh Arena tomorrow.
The Coventry City boss is looking for his players, who have hit buoyant form away from home, to transfer that winning quality to the stadium where they have the chance to chalk up their fifth League One victory in six games.
"Portsmouth are in real turmoil and you don’t really know what team they’re going to put out from one week to the next," said Robins, who was awarded the League Managers’ Association Performance of the Week for Tuesday night’s 3-1 win at Colchester, and will be in line to get Manager of the Month if City collect another three points on Saturday.
"They’ve got an interim manager and a transient population in terms of the playing staff – five players on loan and they’ve just signed another two or three – so you just don’t know what you’re going to get.
"I know some of the players down there and as individuals they’re good lads and it must be really difficult for them in the position they find themselves.
"There’s a supporters group looking to take over the club; Balram Chainrai’s group Portpin are trying to take over as well so there’s a bit of friction there.
"It’s been going on for a long time. They got a ten-point deduction last season and were relegated and when they come out of administration this season they’ll get another deduction, so there’s been a lot of upheaval and it must be really demoralising for the supporters and the players.
"It’s really sad to see and hopefully it will turn out all right in the end because they’re another club with a great tradition.
"But it’s about us – it always is – and from our point of view we have to capitalise on our good form. It was an excellent performance at Colchester – the best we’ve had since I came in.
"Hartlepool was close to it and Tuesday took it on against a team who have been playing well and picking up some good results.
"The challenge is can we do that on a more consistent basis? We’ve got four games on home soil coming up and we’re in a good position to build on the confidence and reproduce our away form at home."
City lost to Scunthorpe last time out at the Ricoh, Robins admitting: "We were struggling for a little bit of rhythm. "They’ve found that now and started transferring what they do on the training field on to the pitch, and the improvement is clear to see which is great. They are starting to get that belief.
"There will be blips along the way because you can’t just wave a magic wand and teams will come here and raise their game against us. We have to accept that and overcome it."
City are still two or three wins away from getting a foothold in the top half of the table.
"Getting there would be a boost for the players, the supporters and the board, because they want to see us fighting at the right end of the table," said the manager.
"I’m guarded in terms of saying we’ve turned the corner. We’ve started to turn the corner but we’ve still got things to do, things to work on.
"But it’s great because everybody can see there have been some really encouraging signs over the past few days and there’s a better feel about the place."
The Coventry City boss is looking for his players, who have hit buoyant form away from home, to transfer that winning quality to the stadium where they have the chance to chalk up their fifth League One victory in six games.
"Portsmouth are in real turmoil and you don’t really know what team they’re going to put out from one week to the next," said Robins, who was awarded the League Managers’ Association Performance of the Week for Tuesday night’s 3-1 win at Colchester, and will be in line to get Manager of the Month if City collect another three points on Saturday.
"They’ve got an interim manager and a transient population in terms of the playing staff – five players on loan and they’ve just signed another two or three – so you just don’t know what you’re going to get.
"I know some of the players down there and as individuals they’re good lads and it must be really difficult for them in the position they find themselves.
"There’s a supporters group looking to take over the club; Balram Chainrai’s group Portpin are trying to take over as well so there’s a bit of friction there.
"It’s been going on for a long time. They got a ten-point deduction last season and were relegated and when they come out of administration this season they’ll get another deduction, so there’s been a lot of upheaval and it must be really demoralising for the supporters and the players.
"It’s really sad to see and hopefully it will turn out all right in the end because they’re another club with a great tradition.
"But it’s about us – it always is – and from our point of view we have to capitalise on our good form. It was an excellent performance at Colchester – the best we’ve had since I came in.
"Hartlepool was close to it and Tuesday took it on against a team who have been playing well and picking up some good results.
"The challenge is can we do that on a more consistent basis? We’ve got four games on home soil coming up and we’re in a good position to build on the confidence and reproduce our away form at home."
City lost to Scunthorpe last time out at the Ricoh, Robins admitting: "We were struggling for a little bit of rhythm. "They’ve found that now and started transferring what they do on the training field on to the pitch, and the improvement is clear to see which is great. They are starting to get that belief.
"There will be blips along the way because you can’t just wave a magic wand and teams will come here and raise their game against us. We have to accept that and overcome it."
City are still two or three wins away from getting a foothold in the top half of the table.
"Getting there would be a boost for the players, the supporters and the board, because they want to see us fighting at the right end of the table," said the manager.
"I’m guarded in terms of saying we’ve turned the corner. We’ve started to turn the corner but we’ve still got things to do, things to work on.
"But it’s great because everybody can see there have been some really encouraging signs over the past few days and there’s a better feel about the place."
