Coventry City 0-3 Blackburn Rovers: Adam Armstrong double helps sink Sky Blues
- Published
Adam Armstrong now has eight goals in nine matches this season for Blackburn
Blackburn Rovers grabbed their first win in four league games, netting four against 10-man Coventry City at St. Andrews.
City's Michael Rose was shown a straight red card after bringing down Ben Brereton in the penalty area in the 14th minute, with forward Adam Armstrong expertly converting the resulting spot-kick.
Armstrong doubled his tally straight after the restart, smashing the ball past Sky Blues keeper Marko Marosi after a Brereton through ball.
Liverpool loanee Harvey Elliott grabbed a third for Blackburn and set-up the fourth for Sam Gallagher late on, to round off a perfect afternoon for the visitors.
In the first league meeting between the two sides since they matched up in the Premier League in 1999, Coventry started the brighter, with striker Matt Godden hitting the post in the 12th minute.
But 90 seconds later Rose chopped down Brereton and referee Darren England had no hesitation in sending the Coventry defender off the field.
Armstrong made no mistake from the spot and the 10-man home side were nearly 2-0 down midway through the first period when Lewis Holtby was denied by Marosi when through on goal.
But Armstrong's second was no more than Rovers deserved and he almost grabbed a hat-trick when his shot was deflected just over the bar in the 58th minute.
Elliott scored just after the hour mark from another Brereton assist, before his pull-back set up Gallagher two minutes from time as Blackburn rose to 10th in the Championship table and Coventry fell to 20th, just a point above the bottom three.
Coventry manager Mark Robins:
"It was a tough afternoon. I thought we started off quite brightly, this was always going to be tough with 11 men but when you lose someone it's difficult.
"You want to get a foothold, and when they've got a man extra it makes a big difference and we got to a stage where we couldn't cope with it and there were times we caved in.
"The only positive was we kept the score down at half-time, and trying to play with 10 men against a team who moves the ball the way Blackburn do is difficult."
Blackburn boss Tony Mowbray:
"They're a really decent football team and if we'd have played against 11 for 90 minutes it would have been really tough for us.
"But I'm delighted with the quality at the top end of the pitch - young Elliott is really tight with the ball and he was excellent and Adam Armstrong does what he does, scoring again.
"I thought we played with the intensity that's required. Plenty to be pleased with."