After winning the match ball during the Sky Blues’ 5-0 victory against Maidstone in the FA Cup fifth round, Simms recorded his second hat-trick in as many days.
Following losses in their previous two league games, Coventry bounced back with goals from Joel Latibeaudiere and Fabio Tavares.
“It was a good start,” stated Robins, who will mark his seventh year in leadership of Coventry on Wednesday. The custodian calmed Ellis’s fears in the first five minutes by putting one on his head, giving us a 1-0 advantage.
“We blew them away within the first 37 minutes or so, Ellis has scored a hat-trick, Joel’s (Latibeaudiere) got a header from a corner…Ellis’ is left foot, right foot, header, it’s the perfect hat-trick.
“He’s not scored a hat-trick and now he’s got two in a week, gets his second match ball and that’s brilliant for him, brilliant for us, brilliant for his confidence.
“When he realises his strength he’ll be absolutely awesome. You can see he can finish with his right and left foot and that’s when he’s not thinking about things. He’s got incredible pace and incredible strength.
“Fabio had an incredible finish; I believe Joel was above the crossbar when he headed it.” Simply put, it was a truly excellent performance that was much needed.
“We were in need of the three points, and it was incredibly satisfying to receive them in the way and style that we did. It was an exceptionally well-kept sheet.
Leam Richardson, the manager of Rotherham, acknowledged that his team’s first-half performance was the worst 45 minutes of his managing career as the Millers fell to an eighth consecutive loss, leaving them 19 points from safety.
“There are some pretty embarrassed footballers in that dressing room right now,” Richardson said. Although I will always stand up for football players, that was definitely the worst 45 minutes I have ever experienced.
Errors are something you can tolerate. Johansson’s (Vik) season was fantastic, but you can’t have games like this one in the championship. You cannot give up three or four goals in the middle of our goal and act softly.
We understand exactly what kind of predicament we’re in. After a few weeks here, it became evident how many obstacles the football club faces and how we must overcome them in order to advance.
“I have a proven track record of success in moving football clubs forward, so I will always support myself to do so.
This level is very big, so you have to be really careful not to expose yourself to evenings like this. If we’re not giving it our best, we’ll end up on the receiving end of things like this.
In all of my time at the club, this is the first time I’ve encountered it. I’ll accept full responsibility for it, but I can offer justifications for everyone.
Since I’m the one in the lead and the one who puts things out there, I’ll take it upon myself.
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