Mark Robins branded Ryan Lowe’s take on his side’s last-gasp equaliser a ‘load of crap’ as the Preston boss bemoaned the amount of added time after Fabio Tavares goal eight minutes into time added on rescued Coventry a point.
In a frantic final 10 minutes, North End defender Liam Lindsey was shown a second yellow card before Fankaty Dabo was also shown red for hauling down Emil Rils in the box before Daniel Johnson stepped up to put Preston a goal to the good with his 89th-minute spot kick.
But it was 21-year-old Fabio Tavares who had the final say, scoring his first Sky Blues goal in just his second appearance, five minutes after being introduced as a substitute.
“When you put six minutes up and you play seven-twenty it’s definitely tough to take”, bemoaned Lowe. “But I thought the lads were fantastic in everything they did.
“We’ve come to a place where they’ve been winning games of late, good team, well coached, well managed, I thought there was only one team that was going to win it when we got a man sent off and then we went down the other end and got a penalty.”
After Dabo was dismissed for bundling Rils over in the penalty box, Johnson had to wait three minutes to take the resulting spot kick as two Sky Blue supporters encroached onto the pitch.
“Little bit disappointed with how things were going off of that, people running on the pitch, threatening players and running round, it shouldn’t happen.
“The ref puts six minutes up, probably for that, we probably could have done better in terms of the foul, Hughesy’s slipped and the ball dropped down and the kid scored a great goal but I’m quite firm here, if it’s six minutes it’s six minutes it’s not any longer.
“Yeah we have [been penalised by people coming on the pitch], if it’s six minutes it’s six minutes isn’t it and I know they say it’s up to six minutes or whatever but it’s hard to take, it’s disappointing because I thought we were well worthy of winning.”
Coventry boss Mark Robins denied that the pitch invaders contributed to the added time and Coventry’s equaliser in the 98th minute, Tavares cutting inside and unleashing his effort into the top corner to send the CBS Arena wild.
“We celebrated a goal that they didn’t want us to celebrate,” claimed Robins.” I don’t think you’re allowed to celebrate against them.
“At the end of the day I’m sure he’s complained about the minutes added on because of people invading on the pitch, what a load of crap that is.
“They can complain as much as they like. Ultimately, it’s a big point for us”
“The people that came onto the pitch deserve everything they get coming to them, because that is sacrosanct.
“Stay off the pitch, you earn the right to be on that football pitch, they haven’t earned the right to be on it. Stay off it, it doesn’t help anybody.
“That isn’t what contributed to the added-on time, that was because of the fouls, the sending offs, all those things culminated in what was added on, not because of the other bits and pieces.
“I’m not happy about that, they’ve got to stay off the pitch, it’s happening more and more frequently and they shouldn’t be allowed back in, that’s a disgrace, an absolute non-starter, a criminal offence and they deserve everything they get.”
