Mark Robins rued the ‘three goal head start’ Coventry City handed Norwich City in a pulsating 4-2 Championship defeat for the Sky Blues.

Robins is a huge admirer of his old club, but felt the hosts exposed some vulnerability in a two goal riposte that rocked David Wagner’s side during a breathless first half at the CBS Arena.

“Any team that plays against them if they're going to be aggressive and run hard, and you've got the changes to make from the bench, you can take points off Norwich,” he said. “They are top quality opposition and even better when you give them a three goal head start.

"This, for me, was a game where we have to be brave, and we had to go after them where we could. If you get that wrong, it shouldn't mean that they have a goal. It shouldn't mean that they have a shot on your target, and they score a goal.

"But if you aren't committed mentally to it, if you're not brave, collectively, then you are dead.

“You want to take points off even the top teams. It's the first time we scored a home goal against these when they've been in the Championship.

"We've been poor against them in my time. When you expend the amount of energy we did against a team that moves the ball like that, and drag you around and switches the play, if you don't get that right then obviously you are going to get further overrun.”

Coventry’s new owner, and boyhood Canaries’ fan, Doug King, wants to take the Sky Blues to the Premier League. But Robins believes at present the likes of Burnley and Norwich operate on a different level.

“Our season is not defined against Norwich, or against Burnley. It's what comes next. And it's what been before that,” he said, after a 1-0 defeat at Turf Moor the previous weekend. “These past two games have been one offs, really more two offs, but it's top opposition.

"We haven't quite got it there to be able to see things through. I’m not saying you're going to win against these, because we've always had difficulty in doing that. But that's not to say that we shouldn't be able to turn them over.

"But the lack of numbers is killing us at the moment. They have quality on the bench, and they can make five substitutes and bring quality on in every position.”