Coventry pair plays rock paper scissors over penalty decision
Coventry City manager Mark Robins joked he was “going to kill” Haji Wright and Callum O’Hare over their unconventional way of deciding who would take a penalty in a 2-1 victory over Millwall.
Wright won an impromptu game of rock paper scissors between the two before converting the spot-kick that cancelled out Romain Esse’s early opener.
The United States international then struck the winner to lift the Sky Blues up to sixth in the EFL Championship and leave Millwall, which began as the better side, four points clear of the relegation zone.
Robins said: “Rock paper scissors? I’m going to kill them.
“For me, it’s about who’s confident to take the penalty.
“Now, Callum’s confident, Haji was a regular penalty taker in Turkey [with Antalyaspor], so I’ve got no problem and then if I get involved with that then it obviously puts doubt in somebody’s head.
“So, let them sort it out and if they miss it then they’re in trouble, aren’t they, but thankfully they’ve got the wherewithal and the calm heads to deal with that situation.
“The good thing is they both want to score, they both want to take the penalty, they both want to get on the scoresheet.
“I think that, obviously, you’ve got a situation where there’s two really decent penalty takers there, but it needs to be a little bit more scientific than that.
“They’ve obviously sorted it out between themselves and that’s fine.”
Millwall deservedly led after 12 minutes when Zian Flemming laid the ball off for 18-year-old Esse, who slammed in a deflected effort on what was just his second league start.
Wright equalised for Coventry from 12 yards out after being tripped by Japhet Tanganga and he struck what proved to be the winner three minutes later by beating Matija Sarkic at his near post.
Millwall boss Joe Edwards said: “It’s a really frustrating position that we’re in at the moment because you constantly have games like this where there’s a lot to be pleased with.
“We start well, we execute a lot of what we talk about and, it’s been more so in our home games, today we get the goal that our start deserves then have an opportunity to get the second.
“That makes it a completely different game, not only for them but it also it relieves the constant stress the defensive part of your team has to live with when you’re facing the likes of the attacking players they’ve got.
“The problem for us is as a group, those of us who live it every day – that’s players, staff and fans – it’s been a bit of a recurring theme.
“There’s too many points getting away from us at the moment, and it’s frustrating.”
