Coventry City: Mark Robins says Wembley pain can 'act as fuel' for next season
- Published
Mark Robins' Coventry were only the fourth side to be beaten on penalties in a Championship play-off final
Coventry City boss Mark Robins is looking to the Sky Blues' cruel Wembley Championship play-off final defeat on penalties by Luton Town to "act as fuel" for next season.
Saturday's game was only the fourth Championship play-off final to be settled on penalties since it moved to Wembley in 1990.
"There is some pain," he told BBC CWR. "But we just have to take our medicine.
"It is a bit raw but they now know how it feels to lose a final like that."
Only three of the previous nine losers of a Championship play-off final have since made it the Premier League, but all three won promotion in the season after losing at Wembley; Middlesbrough in 2016, Aston Villa in 2019 and Brentford in 2021.
"There is a lot of upset and real disappointment as they all thought they were going to make it," said Robins. "But I have told the players that, once the pain subsides, which it will, they've got to use it as fuel to come back stronger.
"There would have been delirium in Coventry if we had been able to see it out, but we have now just got to let the dust settle before we go again."
Having hung on to star striker Viktor Gyokeres in the January transfer window, Robins now faces the likelihood of top-flight clubs again showing interest.
But he now has the protection of an ambitious new owner in Doug King, the security of freshly signed contracts for himself and his number two Adi Viveash, and the support of a fan base who have audibly and visibly reconnected with their club in their six seasons under Robins after two decades of struggles since being relegated from the Premier League in 2001.
They can also be cheered by the fact that two of the three sides to suffer the mental anguish of losing a Championship final on penalties did go on to make amends.
Sunderland, beaten by Charlton in the famous 4-4 Wembley classic of 1998, went on to win the Championship the following season.
Norwich then did the same in 2004, although taking an extra year to do it after losing to Birmingham City in Cardiff in 2002.
Reading, beaten by Huddersfield in 2017, are the only team that has not.
"It is one of the toughest divisions to get out of," said Robins. "But, for us to have been here, just one penalty kick away from the Premier League, from where we have been, is still phenomenal. The players have got to be incredibly proud of themselves and each other."