Wolves 2-3 Coventry: Sky Blues reaching FA Cup semi-finals is ‘pinch me’ moment, Mark Robins

Coventry City boss Mark Robins says leading the Sky Blues into only the second FA Cup semi-final in their history is a “pinch me” moment in his career.

Coventry won 3-2 in an epic contest at Molineux on Saturday, scoring twice in second-half stoppage time.

The Championship side initially led through Ellis Simms’ controversial opener, then conceded twice in the final seven minutes of normal time before striking in the seventh and 10th minutes of additional time.

It kept alive their hopes of becoming the first team outside the top flight to win the FA Cup since West Ham in 1980 and also their chances of emulating the legendary Sky Blues side of 1987, who beat Tottenham to lift the trophy.

“To get to a semi-final; you have to pinch me a little bit,” he said.

“It is great for the club and the support.”

More FA Cup memories for Robins

Robins was just 20 when he scored his most famous goal – in a third-round 1-0 win against Forest when Ferguson’s job was rumoured to be on the line. He went on to get an extra-time winner in the semi-final replay against Oldham and also came on as a substitute in the final, although he remained on the bench for the Wembley replay against Crystal Palace as United lifted the first silverware of the Ferguson era.

“It was 1990 and I had just broken into the team,” he said. “I thought ‘this is good, there will be loads of these’. It turned out there was only one.”

Robins is not allowing himself to look too far ahead given the strength of the sides likely to lie in wait in the semi-final at Wembley next month.

“What?” he said, when asked if he thought his team could win the competition. “You do realise who is left in? It puts the fear of God into you. We have a small chance. We are not stupid. We know. I am expecting a really tough encounter at Wembley but we have to enjoy it.”

‘One of the best quarter-finals’

Simms was the star of the show for Coventry.

The £8m summer signing from Everton put the visitors in front with a close-range effort that was only confirmed after a video assistant referee (VAR) check that lasted nearly four minutes.

Simms then equalised with an almost replica effort before setting up United States forward Haji Wright for the winner.

The late drama led watching BBC pundit Leon Osman to say: “We’ve witnessed one of the best FA Cup quarter-finals I’ve seen.”

It was hard to argue with that assessment, although Wolves boss Gary O’Neil questioned the validity of Simms’ opener, which remarkably led to chants about VAR from both sets of supporters as the long wait for the decision continued.

Back to Wembley

The semi-final will be Coventry’s first appearance at Wembley since they were beaten by Luton in last season’s Championship play-off final.

It also represents another staging post in the demands laid down by owner Doug King, who is plotting a path forward for Coventry. They are emerging from a torrid period in the club’s history that led to them moving out of the city and playing matches at Northampton and Birmingham City amid a dispute between the previous ownership and the people who ran what used to be called the Ricoh Arena.

“I am massively proud of the whole club, which has come from a really dark place over a 10-year period,” said Robins. “It is now being taken seriously and there has been a huge reconnect with the fan base.

“The last Wembley trip was a heartache. Now we are there again. The owner asked for a good cup run and three play-off campaigns in five seasons – and we need to get lucky in one. Hopefully he doesn’t think it is like this every season.”