Coventry City boss delivers honest verdict on Sunderland win and play-off race

Mark Robins admitted his Coventry City weren't fully at their best at the Stadium of Light but said they can look forward to the second half of the season with confidence after their 3-0 win.

The two sides were evenly matched throughout the contest but the visitors took the lead through Tatsuhiro Sakamoto just before half time and then survived a wave of pressure in the early stages of the second half. Robins felt that was the crucial spell of the game, with Callum O'Hare and Kasey Palmer then scoring in quick succession to secure the points.

"I'm impressed with the result," Robins said afterwards.

"I think some of the performance was good, some of it not so good. I thought both teams gave the ball away quite a lot, it was a difficult surface to play on with a lot of water on it. We've taken a bit of time to settle and get into a rhythm. "They've got some real quality and they make it really difficult for you. Everything they threw at us, we managed to get bodies in front of or head away. We moved quite well and then started to grow a bit in possession. The first half was really just trying to get a foothold in it. They started the second half brighter than us and we probably won the game in that period, where we got our bodies in front of the ball, made blocks and kept the ball out of the net. We defended well.

"I don't think we looked back from the opening goal, I thought we had more impetus and grew in confidence. That leads to Callum O'Hare's goal which is a really good finish, showed a real calmness and quality. We then made some changes to freshen up and it worked nicely. In the end, it's turned into a really good day for us."

It means that Coventry City are now just three points behind Sunderland and six points of the play-off places, with Robins believing his side are showing their progress since the summer sales of key duo from last season Viktor Gyokeres and Gus Hamer.

"We lost two brilliant players in the summer, and the overall turnover was 25 players," Robins said.

"You're starting again and that's frustrating for everyone, but we knew we'd brought quality in. It just takes time. You bring players in from abroad who haven't experienced the Championship, it takes time to adjust to the intensity and the quality.

"I think the players are beginning to see what it's like, the places you've got to come.. the noise in the stadium today was fantastic. It's always a great place to play and to do what we've done shows that there is growth there. The second half of the season we can look forward to it, but I think the division this year is probably the hardest it's been for a long time. The teams that are in there and strengthening, every game is tough."