Coventry City 0-4 Stoke City: Potters score four to dent Sky Blues' hopes
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Tyrese Campbell created Stoke's first goal, then scored the Potters' second
Stoke City brought Coventry City's nine-game unbeaten run to an abrupt end as they crushed the Sky Blues 4-0 to dent their hopes of reaching the play-offs.
Jacob Brown tapped the ball in at the back post to put Stoke a goal up only six minutes in, before Tyrese Campbell doubled their advantage just before the break.
Will Smallbone made it 3-0 midway through the second half, slotting the ball into the bottom corner before Ki-Jana Hoever capped an excellent afternoon for the Potters with a superb solo effort 13 minutes from time.
Stoke, now unbeaten in five games, move up a place to 13th, while Coventry fall four points behind the top six.
Coventry, hoping to make the Championship play-offs for the first time since being relegated from the Premier League 22 years ago, fell to their first defeat since 3 February - and their biggest home loss in two and a half years.
Despite a dominant opening from the hosts, Stoke took the lead with their first attack when Campbell's cross on the counter picked out Brown, who tapped in from close range.
It set the tone for the half as Campbell's shot was well saved by Ben Wilson, Ben Wilmot had a header cleared, while Campbell saw another volley denied by an excellent Wilson stop.
Campbell finally got his just rewards to make it 2-0 five minutes before the break, running onto a long ball into acres of space and beating the offside trap - to Coventry protests - to slot the ball beyond Wilson.
Home boss Mark Robins made three changes at half-time in an attempt to get back in the game.
Top scorer Viktor Gyokeres struck a volley from distance but saw it saved by Jack Bonham and Fankaty Dabo curled his shot narrowly the wrong side of the post as Coventry desperately searched for a lifeline.
Yet just as earlier in the match, Coventry were punished on the counter attack when Stoke pushed forward for the first time 25 minutes into the second half.
Brown combined for a one-two on the edge of the box with Smallbone, who slotted home to all but wrap up victory.
On-loan Wolves defender Hoever then added the icing on the cake as he broke down the wing and around numerous Coventry bodies before finishing coolly into the bottom corner - his fourth goal in as many games.
Coventry manager Mark Robins told BBC CWR:
"You're playing against a really good team. They're going to come after you, they're going to put you under pressure and they've got quality in the side.
"They had better legs, they had better qualities, they made it tell. We backed away, gave them too much room, didn't have any quality, couldn't get anything going.
"The consequence of that was the distance between the back lines and front lines was too big and we didn't solve that problem, and it's an easy problem to solve in the middle of the park.
"We just got out-fought, out-worked and they had more quality. When you put those together it was a long afternoon."
Stoke manager Alex Neil told BBC Radio Stoke:
"It's been a culmination of where we've been the last five or six weeks. We're in a really good space just now. Offensively, defensively we're really good. We've got a great balance to the team.
"You can see the determination in the lads. They're working really hard. We've come to a team today that, if they won, were going into the top six.
"People naturally would accuse other teams of 'you've not got much to play for' but we certainly don't see it that way. We've got another seven games and we want to try and win each and every one of them.
"I'm extremely delighted with where the players are now just now, with our shape. This was a different challenge, the fact that they played a back three and we've not really faced that many times.
"It was always going to be an open, entertaining game, we wanted to make it that way because we fancied ourselves in terms of that straight shoot-out and the lads delivered."
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