Coventry born striker Gary McSheffrey has been stung by the recent criticism aimed at him and the rest of the team by the fans during some poor performances, particularly during home games at The Ricoh.
McSheffrey understands the criticism and agrees much of it is justified but it has not affected his commitment to the cause as was witnessed by the travelling faithful during the 3-1 away win at Colchester on Tuesday night.
Coventry manager Mark Robins decided to substitute the striker after he made a series of foul tackles in dangerous positions giving Colchester chances from set pieces.
McSheffrey admitted his tackling isn’t his strongest point, saying to the Coventry Telegraph's Andy Turner, “I had a bad five minutes. You try to track back but my tackling hasn’t improved and it probably never will; the biggest problem is my old man trying to tell me how to do it right because that’s from a striker himself.”
Robins thought McSheffrey was in danger of being sent off so chose to replace him, but he wouldn’t fault the player for his commitment, even praised him for his intentions.
Robins said, “He looks like the real Gary McSheffrey instead of his brother Geoffrey”. He went on to say he thought he could go on for another 30 years!
McSheffrey said: “I saw that, but he dropped me for the next game so I couldn’t quite get my head round that.
“I’m my worst critic and when you’ve played at a good level you get frustrated when you fall below par. That’s been the hardest thing for me over the last couple of seasons, this year especially, being in and out in League One after always having played at Championship level and had a season in the Premier League, but you can’t live in the past I have to do well between now and the end of the season and take it from there. I feel I’m getting over that mental block and that I can concentrate on putting in good performances.
“My situation is not a biggy. No-one wants to sit on the bench or in the stands as I have done on a couple of occasions but you just deal with it. Deep down I know I’ve not been fully fit since pre-season. I came back in great shape but then had a couple of niggles here and there.
“My longest run was four games and in that I injured my ankle at Arsenal, so for three of those games I knew I shouldn’t really be playing, but I have got myself back to a good level of fitness I know it has been very stop-start for me so far and I’m determined to get my season up and running and help the club start to move up the table.
“Our away form has been good and certain individuals have probably been playing the best they have in a long time, so individually there’s some great confidence and collectively it’s coming together. We don’t want to get carried away but this is a good time to hit a bit of form and get a run going. We’ll turn it round at home, I pretty confident of that, and Saturday would be a good place to start.”