Coventry boss slams 'toenail offside' that prevented famous win over Man Utd

MARK ROBINS has slammed the “toenail offside” decision that stopped Coventry from completing an all-time FA Cup upset against Manchester United.

The Red Devils narrowly avoided disaster as they beat the Sky Blues on penalties to set-up a showdown with Man City in the FA Cup Final.

But that was only after the Championship side fought back from 3-0 down to take it to extra-time and then having a late strike ruled out for offside to deny them a famous triumph.

United looked to be cruising towards a repeat of last year’s final thanks to goals from Scott McTominay, Harry Maguire and Bruno Fernandes.

Ellis Simms pulled one back on 71 minutes before Callum O’Hare set-up a nervy finish with 11 left.

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Haji Wright then kept his nerve in stoppage time to score from the spot to send it to extra-time.

Then, in the 121st minute, Coventry looked to have pulled off mission impossible after Victor Torp appeared to have scored the winning goal after being set-up by Wright.

The blue half of Wembley went wild after the ball hit the net but those celebrations were ended after a VAR check showed that American star Wright was millimetres offside.

United went on to win the shootout as Antony taunted the Coventry supporters afterwards.

But the Sky Blues boss Robins slammed VAR's decision to disallow the goal as he felt Wright was offside only by a “toenail”.

Speaking to BBC Sport, the Coventry boss said: “Bitterly disappointed, I'm proud as well.

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“Someone said to me I don't think any team have been as close to a final without getting there.

“We deserved to go through, we were 20 seconds away and a toenail offside, it's ridiculous.”

Robins continued: “Had he [Haji Wright] cut his toe nail, it wouldn't have gone to penalties.”

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He then claimed that the fourth official, Thomas Bramall, had said initially there was nothing wrong with Wright’s strike.

Robins added: “They hit the bar, we hit the bar. Another goal with 20 seconds to go. It took an age.

“The fourth official said there was nothing wrong with it [initially]. A toenail offside.

“Disappointed but we have to be really proud. Once the dust settles a lot of people will talk about that game for a long time.

“We needed to try to get a bit of control and quality. We didn't have that. We kept giving the ball away so we couldn't build any momentum.

“It looked a little bit more like us and that's why I'm proud of them. They were incredible for the last hour.

“The mentality changes because you've almost won it and then you haven't. It puts you on the backfoot going into the penalty shootout. Thirty seconds later you're in a shootout.”

Following the game, Man United scorer Maguire hailed his side’s “good character “ - something Roy Keane completely disagreed with in the ITV studio.

The defender said: “We found a way.

“We started the game really well and then conceded a sloppy goal. We were unfortunate to concede the second goal.

“I think the penalty was so hard but all credit to Coventry. They made it tough for us in the second half of extra time.

“It sums up our season, we had great control and played well for 60 minutes but then we conceded out of nothing. 

“Then I don’t know, it seems like the world wanted Coventry to go on and do it. We showed great character to stick with it and it was important to win the shootout.”