COVENTRY City boss Mark Robins credited Cherries for their clinical nature during the Dorset club’s 3-0 win away in the Midlands, with the Sky Blues manager believing “it could have been so different”.

Arriving into town with just three shots on target in their last three games, Cherries’ goalscoring form was in strong contrast to the hosts, who had bagged seven in their previous two fixtures.

Memories of Cherries’ struggles in front of goal in recent weeks were quickly forgotten as first-half goals from Jamal Lowe and Dominic Solanke were converted with ease.

Solanke then effectively killed the game with a third goal early on in the second period, ensuring his side left the Coventry Building Society Arena with an efficient three points.

Robins, currently in his second spell as Coventry boss, has taken the Sky Blues from League Two and up into a comfortable position in the Championship in just five years.

Reflecting on the game, Robins stated: “It could have been so different but it wasn’t.

“We started off brightly and created some chances we didn’t take. They had their first chance – stick it in the back of the net.

“Second chance, stick it in the back of the net. Game over. Done.”

Whilst Cherries were seemingly perfect in terms of converting chances, Coventry were unable to beat Mark Travers in the away goal.

Stressing the importance of taking chances, Robins added: “That makes it really difficult.

“When you are playing against the top teams, you have to take your chances – you have to take them.

“That changes their mentality, that changes their belief systems, that changes their supporters’ belief in the team.

“It starts to put the anxiety back there which probably was already there to a degree.

“But when you’ve got top players, like they have, if you give them a sniff and they score then they grow in confidence.”

Despite believing his side deserved more for their efforts on the day, Robins did concede that his side had “no divine right” to walk away with three points.

“That can be the disappointment for us but other than that, we have no divine right to win any football matches.

“They work phenomenally hard out of possession and in possession they have got players they’ve got players who can take the game away from you.

“We’re talking about £17million with Dominic Solanke – and the fact he scored today, his movement was good, his power is there for everybody to see.

“He is on the floor at one point in the second half and he just wriggles out of three challenges.

“The change that Scott made at half-time was really clever. That’s what we’d have done. I think really – 2-0 up defending that, playing on the counter-attack, don’t give us any space.

“Because of the quality of them, we are chasing it. We’ve got nothing to lose – there’s no two ways about it.”