Coventry boss Mark Robins felt his side would always be in for a tough afternoon with 11 men, never mind spending more than three quarters of it with a player light.

Michael Rose was sent of for pushing over Ben Brereton when clean through on goal after being caught out by a fine Joe Rankin-Costello pass and excellent first touch by the attacker.

Referee Darren England was quick to pull out the red card, and once Adam Armstrong stuck away the penalty, Robins reflected that the game was as good as over.

The Sky Blues boss felt it was a positive that his side restricted Rovers to just that penalty in the first half, but Armstrong added a second just four minutes after the re-start, before Harvey Elliott and Sam Gallagher added the finishing touches to the win.

“It was a tough afternoon, we started quite brightly but this was always going to be a tough game with 11-men, but when you lose a man, and this is the second game here where we’ve had a man sent-off, it’s difficult,” Robins said in his post-match press conference.

“We kept the score down at half-time which was a positive. In the second-half we had to play with a man less against a team that moves the ball well, which is really tough.

“We have to move past it and get onto the next one and hope we can get everybody back fit because it’s a punishing schedule, we’re down to bare bones and are still trying to get to grips at the level as well.”

Robins praised the quality of Rovers, and their ability to make changes to their side, after the 4-0 win.

He also had no issues with the red card shown to Rose, who will now miss Tuesday’s game at Middlesbrough, was disappointed with how the chance came about.

He added: “There wasn’t enough pressure on the ball to start with, the ball’s come a long way into the penalty area to be able to deal with it, but once you’ve got the wrong side don’t commit the cardinal sin where the referee is going to give a penalty and then send you off.

“We’ve learned the hard way that an upper body contact means you’re getting sent off and the game is over.

“It became tough from the way they moved the ball and the quality of the players they’ve got made it very difficult to get anywhere near their goal. It’s another lesson for us.”