SKY Blues boss Tony Mowbray was full of praise for striker Adam Armstrong after netting his first professional hat-trick during the 5-0 victory away at Crewe.
The 18-year-old scored three times in the first half as the Sky Blues ran riot at Gresty Road on Saturday in front of another impressive away following.
Jacob Murphy also got in on the act by scoring a brace which pushes his tally up to nine in all competitions.
But it was Armstrong who grabbed all headlines with another show of real quality in front of goal which raised further questions over his future.
Newcastle boss Steve McClaren recently revealed he was happy to extend Armstrong’s stay at the Ricoh Arena until the end of the season.
He told the Newcastle Chronicle: “At the present moment, Adam is staying in Coventry and is doing very well. We believe he is developing.
“We are probably talking about Adam for next season, but don’t rule anything out.”
However Mowbray revealed after Saturday’s match that no new deal has been formally agreed.
He said: “I’m absolutely delighted for Adam. He’s been taking a bit of stick from the lads because he hasn’t scored an away goal since Millwall.
“I’m sure that was in the back of his mind today and it’s great to see him take his chances as well as he did.
“He’s works really hard on the training ground and he’s a great lad to work with day-in, day-out.
“Nothing has been signed in regards to his loan yet so we’ll have to wait and see if we can keep Adam with us for the remainder of the season.”
Armstrong opened the scoring against Crewe with a neat left-footed finish after being put through on goal by Murphy.
Murphy then scored an early goal of the year contender after scoring with a wonderful curling effort from the edge of the area.
City’s third came courtesty of an Amrstrong penalty after Romain Vincelot was hauled down inside the box and Armstrong bagged his third by winning possesion down the left and beating Crewe goalkeeper Ben Garratt with another low finish.
The visitors continued to dominate after the break and the scoring was complete when Murphy scored a second five minutes from time with a low finish into the bottom left-hand corner of the net.
It was an eighth clean sheet for Reice Charles-Cook and Mowbray was full or praise for the young goalkeeper.
He added: “He was somewhere near his best today and I’m delighted for him. He pulled off some great saves and that’s what we expect him to do.
“He’s aware that he made a few errors recently but that performance today should put that to the back of his mind.
“It was a great day for the team but also the supporters who travelled once again in their droves and made it feel like a home game at times, and we’re thankful for that support.”
