COVENTRY City stretched their lead at the top of the Championship table to eight points with a commanding 3-0 home win against Preston North End.
Goals from Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Brandon Thomas-Asante and Matt Grimes, the latter scoring from the penalty spot, helped the Sky Blues to a sixth successive league victory at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
And the result means Coventry now sit eight points clear at the top of the Championship table following Middlesbrough’s defeat against Charlton Athletic.
The two teams traded early chances as Daniel Iversen tipped Frank Onyeka’s powerful volley over the crossbar before Carl Rushworth superbly tipped Ben Whiteman’s header behind at the other end.
Coventry took the lead on 17 minutes when Preston could only clear the ball into the path of Sakamoto who saw his shot from 25-yards out take a wicked deflection off Whiteman and trickle past a helpless Iversen.
The Sky Blues struck again on 34 minutes when Liam Kitching kept a corner from the left alive at the back post and Thomas-Asante chested the ball over the line from close range after Iversen tipped Ellis Simms’ shot onto the crossbar.
Frank Lampard’s side picked up where they left off after the break as Ephron Mason-Clark burst into the box down the left and drew a foul from Pol Valentin as the referee pointed to the spot.
And Coventry skipper Grimes stepped up to score the resulting penalty on 50 minutes as he sent Iversen the wrong way from 12-yards with a finish into the bottom right corner.
The Sky Blues had a plethora of shots throughout the second half with the best chance falling to substitute Josh Eccles who sent a half-volley over the crossbar late on.
