Coventry City manager Mark Robins says he sees lots of similarities with Ipswich Town and the team he took to the Championship Play-Off Final last season.

First half goals from George Hirst and Wes Burns set the Blues on the way to a 2-1 victory that keeps them a point behind league leaders Leicester and opens up a 17-point gap to seventh.

Long-serving Sky Blues boss Robins, who has had to rebuild his team following the big summer departures of star duo Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer, joined the growing list of managers effusive in their praise of Kieran McKenna's newly-promoted men.

"They're a good side, they're up there for a reason, they play good football," he said. "They've been together for 18 months and you can tell. 

"We've just said in the dressing room that it felt like watching us last season because we'd been together for that length of time.

"You can see the connections that they've made between their players. For instance, Conor (Chaplin) and Wes Burns link up really well together. There's (George) Hirst off the back, (Nathan) Broadhead comes in off that left-hand side, makes good runs, obviously they've got some pace and power within the team and they keep the ball pretty well. They make it difficult for you."

MORE: Kieran McKenna says Wes Burns' 'world class' finish is his favourite goal in charge of the Blues

Coventry saw a Haji Wright headed finish disallowed for offside in the first half. After the break, Matty Godden saw a penalty crash out off the underside of the crossbar, with Ellis Simms then forcing Brandon Williams into an own goal deep into stoppage-time. 

"We had to stay in the game for longer rather than conceding," rued Robins. "There are a couple of moments in the game where we get it clearly wrong - the first one is the goal after six minutes.

"Their second is a worldy goal, so I don't think you can really put that down to anything other than brilliant technique and a great finish. There are things you can do to stop it but we didn't.

"I thought we were okay without being good enough with the ball. You get to half-time, we make some changes and second half we grew into it a little bit more. They had plenty of possession, I thought we were moving okay to try and block the spaces off, but then you've got to have a little bit more going forward.

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"Obviously the penalty came and went. It hits the underside of the bar and that's just one of those things I'm afraid. Had we taken that chance then it puts them on the back foot, 100%. We'd start to put them under pressure and we'd build.

"We're growing into a really good team but we are just shy of that at the moment. We've got to remember we're Coventry City Football Club, we're a big club ourselves and we go after teams, we don't step back. Give teams the respect they deserve, but don't back away. You've got to go after them and punish them.

"We just looked a little bit like we were timid at times. When I say that I don't mean the aggression type of timid, I'm talking about a firm pass, the good passes that are penetrative, that take players out and get you into good positions. Our shots were a little bit wasteful as well, whereas they come onto the ball and they hit it true. That builds the pressure psychologically and we didn't manage to do that enough.

"We were okay. It was one of those games we've got to learn from and take something from. We've got play with a purpose and be ruthless."

SUBSCRIBERS ONLY: Watch Alex and Stu's video verdict on 2-1 win against Coventry