Coventry City v Man Utd: FA Cup semi-final draw 'special' - Mark Robins
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Coventry City manager Mark Robins says drawing his old club Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final is "special" - but added that the achievement of getting there is special in itself.
Coventry have not made the last four since lifting the FA Cup in 1987, three years before Robins' late replay winner took Alex Ferguson's United to Wembley.
"To draw United is certainly special," Robins told BBC CWR.
"But to draw any one of those teams would have been special."
While United will play the Sky Blues of the Championship, two other former Champions League winners - Chelsea and holders Manchester City - will also meet at Wembley.
"If you look at the teams left, to be in the cup at this stage with the top clubs is an achievement in itself," added Robins.
The boyhood United fan and product of their youth system played a famous walk-on role in the club's glorious history.
Before his extra-time winner to beat Oldham Athletic 2-1 in the semi-final replay at Maine Road in April 1990, Robins had scored an even more crucial goal in the third round against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground three months earlier, when his late winner reportedly kept the then trophyless Ferguson in a job., external
But, after seven years in charge of Coventry, Robins now only has eyes for the Sky Blues.
"I was there as a kid and came through there at United," he said. "But my loyalties are certainly now with Coventry City.
"It's at Wembley. It's a brilliant occasion. We've got to come up with a plan that's going to give us an opportunity to compete in the game and see where it takes us."
Robins has already taken the Sky Blues to Wembley three times - twice successfully, in the 2017 EFL Trophy final against Oxford United and then the following year's League Two play-off triumph against Exeter City, before their penalty shootout loss to Luton Town in the Championship play-off final in May 2023.
But United will obviously be their toughest assignment yet - and Robins said Sunday's 4-3 quarter-final victory over Liverpool showed just how powerful United still can be, even having suffered 16 defeats so far in all competitions in 2023-24.
"You saw them against Liverpool," he said. "You saw the quality of the players they have.
"The pace, the power and the quality they've got - if they can play like that and you give them space and time then they'll hurt anybody."
Mark Robins was talking to BBC CWR's Clive Eakin
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