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• Mark Robins proud of brave Coventry win over Blackburn

  Mark Robins praised his brave Coventry side after they earned a narrow 1-0 victory over Blackburn at the CBS Arena.

  Record signing Haji Wright nodded in on 85 minutes after Yasin Ayari’s effort had rebounded off the crossbar.

  The Sky Blues had already hit the woodwork twice through Matty Godden and Bobby Thomas, while James Hill’s thunderous effort came back off the woodwork in the first half for Blackburn.

  It meant back-to-back wins for the first time this season for Coventry, who beat QPR 3-1 at the weekend thanks to a brace from Ellis Simms.

  “We started the brighter of the teams, had loads of energy, tried to execute what we wanted to do and did it pretty successfully to start with,” explained Robins.

  “They got control in the second half of the first half and had a lot of possession and they can do that to you.

  “You’ve got to be brave, work really hard to try and play through them and if you can do that and the first pass is a really good pass, then you can take out the majority of the team.

  “With the pace of Ellis and Haji you can cause them problems and it looked that way. We had the spell in the second half when we created a lot more chances.

  “The header is a brilliant header from Haji and he gets a lot of power on it and just waits for the right moment and the timing is perfect.

  “It gives us a lead, having conceded a goal at the other end I thought he was going to give. Ben Wilson has got the ball in both hands and he has kicked the ball out of his hands by Moran.

  “They are a good side and they will probably get fed up of hearing it, because they have played some really good teams now.

  “I think they are a really good team and we’ve done really well to get the three points. Back-to-back wins for the first time this season which is really welcome.”

  Blackburn head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson was defiant after his Rovers side suffered a fourth loss on the bounce, as well as seeing a goal disallowed when Andrew Moran was adjudged to have kicked the ball out of Ben Wilson’s hands before tapping in.

  “Disappointed with the result of course, I actually saw a really good team, great spirit and togetherness against a good opponent in an away game,” said the Dane.

  “I think we were quite solid in everything we did with the ball, without the ball, we created chances and we had big moments where we probably should have done better.

  “We need to be more clinical in the box to get results but I think the boys have played an excellent game so if we keep on doing this then we will get some results.

  “From my distance it was a strange situation wasn’t it? The referee had no clue if it was a goal or not, the linesman did nothing and after a short chat suddenly it was a free kick.

  “I haven’t seen it back, then after that we have an extremely big moment, maybe one or two against one with the goalkeeper, then we are leading 1-0, but a good performance from my players for sure.

  “We are doing a lot of good things, we have been giving too easy goals away, I think we were quite solid today mostly and we have created plenty of goal chances to win games, but of course we need to score.”

• Daniel Farke praises Leeds’ ability to win without producing fireworks

  Leeds boss Daniel Farke was pleased to see his side grind out a 1-0 victory over QPR in the Championship.

  Crysencio Summerville coolly slotted in the only goal of the contest after nine minutes to move the Whites into the play-off places.

  The hosts missed chances to kill the game off against a QPR side who had goalkeeper Asmir Begovic sent off in stoppage time, but Leeds held on as they returned to winning ways following Saturday’s defeat to Southampton.

  “I am really happy and pleased,” Farke said.

  “I told the lads I am proud because you can be on a great spell like we were on before Southampton and after one bad result, the next game is very difficult.

  “The confidence is not there like it was before and to grind out a result it’s never champagne or football fireworks, it’s always hard work.

  “To bring this tight lead over the line and be there again with a clean sheet, a win, is fantastic and in this type of game you have to be there to be able to celebrate.”

  Leeds missed a handful of chances in the second period which could have put them out of sight and Farke admitted it started to get more nervy as the game wore on.

  He added: “When you don’t score the second goal the opponent believes there is a chance.

  “Because you don’t score a second goal it gets more nervous. We dominated every stat, but one scruffy situation in the second half saw a ball go through and thank God (goalkeeper) Illan (Meslier) was in the right position.”

  QPR slipped to their sixth league defeat of the season and are without a win in five, but boss Gareth Ainsworth took heart from the performance.

  “We’ve had a couple of collapses in my time so resilience wise I’m very proud of the boys,” he said.

  “They gave everything, I asked for a bit more output, bit more of the committed work rate, I haven’t seen enough of that this season and we have that tonight. I think we will finish way higher than what people think.”

  Ainsworth disagreed with the decision to send off Begovic, who saw red after fouling Patrick Bamford outside his area.

  “He (Begovic) does not touch him (Bamford). I’ve had verification from both players that there’s no contact,” Ainsworth said.

  “Patrick’s a great lad and he’s just jumped out the way and the referee has seen it as he thought he caught him. We may be able to get it overturned, I don’t know.”

• Rico Lewis is one of best players I have ever coached – Pep Guardiola

  Pep Guardiola hailed Rico Lewis as one of the best players he has ever coached after his starring role in Manchester City’s hard-fought win at RB Leipzig.

  The 18-year-old produced a commanding display as the holders maintained the winning start to their Champions League defence with a 3-1 success at the Red Bull Arena on Wednesday.

  Lewis, who made his first-team breakthrough as a right-back last season, had a hand in Phil Foden’s opening goal and proved City’s main driving force throughout.

  City manager Guardiola, the former Barcelona boss whose past players have included Lionel Messi, said: “What a player! What a player!

  “I’ve been a manager for 14, 15, years and lucky to train one of the best players in the world in Barcelona.

  “To find a player like him playing in the pockets, how he has to move as a holding midfielder, moving in the spaces, he is one of the best I’ve ever trained by far.

  “He’s a humble guy, doesn’t talk much. He didn’t play much this season but he is going to play a lot.”

  Despite Lewis’ contributions, it took the introduction of substitutes Julian Alvarez and Jeremy Doku to secure a hard-fought victory.

  City controlled the first half and led at the break through Foden’s 25th-minute strike but they were pegged back after the restart by Lois Openda.

  The second half was a frustrating affair with Erling Haaland missing several chances and Foden hitting the bar but Alvarez made the breakthrough with a stunning effort on 84 minutes.

  Doku wrapped up a second successive win in Group G in injury time.

  After back-to-back defeats domestically, Guardiola was pleased to get back to winning ways.

  He said: “Three or four days ago it was no progress because we lost in Wolves. It was important to break that.

  “We played a fantastic game in all departments. We conceded two or three transitions in the second half but it’s normal. When a team is able to make a lot of passes early on, very nice things are going to happen in the game.

  “The guys who came from the bench, the contribution they have done is the key point. Everyone helped each other. I am really satisfied. It was a tough game.”

  Leipzig coach Marco Rose was pleased with the effort of his side but had no complaints about the result.

  Rose said: “Manchester City deserved to win, even if it was 1-1 in the 83rd minute and we had hoped to hold on until the end.

  “We did well after the break and got our equaliser. It was then an open game then but City put us under pressure at the death again. We are learning from the best.”