Coventry City dealt frustrating blow ahead of Sheffield Wednesday match | OneFootball

The Sky Blues are set to be without a key player this weekend.

Mark Robins has called Tatsuhiro Sakamoto's thigh injury a "nasty" one amid fears he may miss Coventry City's game against Sheffield Wednesday this weekend.

Coventry finally looked like the Coventry of old on Tuesday night. They will hope that the impressive 3-0 win over Blackburn Rovers with goals from Jake Bidwell, Haji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Asante will be the catalyst that sparks this promotion hopeful team into life after a stumbling start to the new season.

Blackburn were unbeaten in the league ahead of their trip to the Coventry Building Society Arena, but they left with their tails tucked between their legs, with manager John Eustace calling it a "bad night," for his team.

City boss Mark Robins was on the other end of the emotional stick, as you'd expect after such an emphatic win. He said, after picking up the three points, via Coventry Live, that the result was: "Much-needed, yeah. For confidence, belief, for the supporters."

It wasn't all good for the Sky Blues though, as one of their players suffered a gruesome injury. Sakamoto went in for a sliding challenge on Rovers' Tyryhs Dolan in the first half. In doing so, Dolan's studs went in to the Japanese winger's thigh and created quite a gash.

For anyone in the stands who didn't see or understand what had happened to Sakamoto, the reaction of some of his teammates to the injury, Josh Eccles and Milan Van Ewijk in particular, told the story. Both players walked away from their fallen friend in a startled state.

Mark Robins' reaction to Tatsuhiro Sakamoto's thigh injury

The Coventry boss has stated that he isn't sure how long the 27-year-old will be out of action for, and added, at the time, that he was unsure of whether there was any intent by Dolan to cause the injury.

Robins said in the aftermath, via Coventry Live: "He’s sliced his thigh! It has gone right down his thigh with his studs. You could see the stud marks around it, so they have sliced his thigh open. I have not seen it back so I can’t comment on it but he has a nasty, nasty gash on his leg.

"I have no idea [how long Sakamoto will be out for]," added Robins. "It’s something that is going to have to settle down for him. But if he has a big laceration on his thigh, which was really deep apparently, so we just have to wait to see how it settles down. But he has been stitched."

Sakamoto had to be stretchered off and is now at risk of missing this weekend's match against Sheffield Wednesday. He has played in seven of City's eight Championship games so far this season, including five starts.

You never want to see your teammate go down with any injury, let alone one of the nature that Sakamoto has. These times do present opportunities for others though; in this case, it's Ephron Mason-Clark.

He was benched for the Blackburn game after starting in the 3-0 loss to Leeds United on Saturday. The £4.25 million man replaced his Japanese counterpart early in the match and went on to provide his first assist for the club, setting up Thomas-Asante for his inaugural Coventry goal.

The 25-year-old hasn't been able to find a consistent starting spot since making the permanent switch from Peterborough United to the Sky Blues this summer. Now, with little other competition around him, he needs to make sure he takes this opportunity to cement himself in Robins' first XI going forward.