Robins asks Sky Blues moaners to stay supportive

Mark Robins' Sky Blues have made poor starts for the past two seasons - but then recovered well over the second half of the campaign

Coventry City boss Mark Robins has appealed to the moaning minority among the concerned Sky Blues fans to try to stay supportive of his misfiring side.

For the third season running, City have made a poor start, having won just two of their opening 10 Championship games - to sit just one place above the relegation zone.

Following Saturday's defeat at Preston North End, they now take on bottom side Queens Park Rangers on Tuesday.

The fan backlash came after the game in Lancashire with shouts of "sort it out" as Robins and his players applauded the away following at the end.

And he hopes for a more positive outlook from a certain section of their travelling support than they got at bogey ground Deepdale, where the club traditionally struggle, having never won a league game there in 23 visits.

"People have got to stick behind the players," Robins told BBC CWR. "You can see the bewilderment on the faces of the players. They can't handle the criticism.

"A lot of our fans are brilliant. But there's one or two in the crowd shouting on. That's fine. Shout on all you want but support your team. Support the players."

Robins' Coventry have made it quite clear that they are not a team to be judged after just 10 games - less than a quarter of the campaign - having been very much a second-half-of-the-season side for the past two years.

They won just one of their first 10 games two seasons ago, only to bounce back and make the play-off final, which they lost on penalties to Luton Town.

They then slightly improved on that last season, with three wins from their first 10 to challenge for the play-offs again, only to mentally wilt late on after another Wembley heartbreak - this time to Manchester United in the FA Cup semi-final after having a winner in injury time of extra time ruled out for offside by the video assistant referee.

Robins is also mindful of the impact that social media can have.

"There's 25 posts and one bad one - and people pick out the bad one," said the EFL's longest-serving manager. "That's all they remember. That's what happens with young people.

"They have to be mindful of, however angry they are, we're the ones who then have to put things right.

"Do it in a way that you're not criticising people and putting them on the back foot so that they've got a further distance to come back from.

"Some should remember that. Do it in a positive way."

Mark Robins was talking to BBC CWR's Clive Eakin