'We've got to take it': Mark Robins claims illness-hit Coventry City had nothing more to give against Blackpool

The Sky Blues squandered a one-goal lead to lose 2-1 at home to Michael Appleton’s side thanks to second-half goals from Gary Madine and the in-form Jerry Yates.

Pool were the better side for much of the game, especially during the opening 30 minutes, but they had to come from behind to claim a second successive victory.

Robins, who revealed his squad has been ravaged by illness in recent days, accepted his side did what they could given the circumstances.

He told Coventry’s official website: “We’ve got to take it, haven’t we?

“We didn’t defend well enough or keep the ball out of our net and we gave them too many opportunities. We didn’t look clean.

“We looked too open and we gave the ball away in dangerous positions which let them believe there was something in the game for them.

“Whereas, when we were playing properly and passing the ball, we created brilliant opportunities and we scored a brilliant goal. But having said that, we could’ve been three or four down at that stage.”

Like Blackpool, Coventry have also been hit by injuries in recent weeks, which makes the timing of their virus even worse.

“They’ve given me everything they’ve got which doesn’t sound great, but I’ve had to name the team three times because of illness,” Robins added.

“Injuries have taken their toll but when you’re trying to make plans and things become difficult, things don’t become clear until the teamsheets go in.

“Ultimately, they’ve tried to carry out what we’ve asked them to do to the best of their ability and the goal we’ve scored was absolutely outstanding and on any other day people would be saying brilliant move, but you have to pick points up.

“One point would’ve taken us out of the bottom three which shows how important it is. But we just didn’t have it in our legs or have the energy and you saw that, it was clear. But now it’s about how we recover with other games coming quickly.”