Frank Lampard hails all-round display as Coventry move eight points clear

Coventry manager Frank Lampard hailed his side’s 3-0 victory over Preston as an all-round performance as the league leaders opened up an eight-point gap to second-placed Middlesbrough.

Goals from Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Brandon Thomas-Asante in the first half were followed by Matt Grimes’ penalty after half time as the Sky Blues made it six wins on the bounce.

“It was an all-round performance,” explained Lampard. “The approach, the focus was clearly evident from the start of the game.

“The way we moved the ball, the quality of our play, the chances we created, the focus to not give away transition and it all starts with counter pressing.

“It was very, very complete in how we dealt with a very tricky game for us. Preston are no bad team and we played really well.

“It’s nice to establish a gap, we focus on ourselves, we’re obviously aware of other results but we’re at the point now where we have to go game by game.

“Southampton comes along really quickly and we know how quickly points can swing in this league because you play so much, nine games is 27 points so we can be happy with the performance tonight but we have to go again, onto the next one, and have that clinical mentality about us which we showed tonight.”

Lampard also spoke about captain Grimes, who claimed his second of the season with a composed penalty shortly after the break.

“Grimesy was outstanding as he has been since he’s been at the club. His consistency is incredible, he controlled the game in many ways, he helps people around him, calmness on the ball, wants to put his foot in and he pops up with the penalty.

“Everyone who is here knows how good Grimesy has been since he’s been here.”

Preston boss Paul Heckingbottom admitted his side had a tough evening as their struggles continued, meaning they’ve won just one of their last 11 outings.

The former Sheffield United boss said: “We knew it was going to be a difficult place to come because they’re really at it, and they were really hungry from minute one – how they competed, when they lost the ball, how quickly they went to try and win the league back.

“It took us a few minutes to get to grips with that. We weren’t brilliant with the ball all night. I thought we were a bit loose under their pressure.

“The first goal, you can say they’ve earned their luck because they were playing well but we’re disappointed with that, obviously not much we can do about it.

“The second goal we are disappointed with because we lost three first contacts in the box, Dan [Iversen] makes a good save and again, that hunger and drive from them, that’s why they’re up there, it’s why they’re scoring all the goals.

“The third is not a penalty, their lads said it wasn’t a penalty, we know it’s not a penalty and that sort of took the game away from us.

“I felt good about the second half, we knew we needed those moments and we were thinking we’ll get that bit of luck and that made it a tough night after 47/48 minutes.

“From that point on, you know it’s going to be difficult.”