Frank Lampard tells Coventry ‘no one can rest’ in race for promotion

Coventry boss Frank Lampard told his side they cannot get “carried away” with thoughts of promotion after they returned to the top of the Sky Bet Championship with 3-1 victory over Middlesbrough.

Haji Wright’s hat-trick did the damage and he set City on their way after 21 minutes, having earlier struck a post.

Wright doubled the advantage 10 minutes after the break, only for Riley McGree to halve the deficit, but the United States forward completed his treble from the penalty spot after Matt Targett handled inside the area to seal the points.

Coventry’s first win in four games took them a point ahead of Middlesbrough, with third-placed Millwall six points back.

Lampard felt his side showed their promotion credentials at the Coventry Building Society Arena but knows there is a long way to go.

He said: “(It was a) big game of football and showed why it’s one and two in the league. Difficult team to play against. In terms of the game plan, we worked on it a lot this week and the lads delivered it so I’m very happy.

“If we can play like that and deliver like that, we have 14 more to go now. We have to take that as a template of what needs to go into a game.

“There’s so many points to fight for. We’ve got ourselves in this position, it’s game on. There is so much to play for and we absolutely can’t get carried away.

“We have to focus on ourselves. No one can rest. It’s about action, but we have to recognise the effort we put into this game to stick to a plan and deliver that. West Brom will be a different challenge.”

Wright made it 13 goals for the season with his hat-trick and Lampard was full of praise for the forward.

He added: “Haji keeps his head down, he’s been working hard and we know what Haji can be like when he’s in that form. Really pleased for him and he has to take that forward.

“Especially with a high-level game, you have to score in critical moments and we did today. Haji to deliver the pressure penalty.

“Everybody worked and Haji did the business.”

Middlesbrough had won six games in a row going into the game, but defeat dropped Kim Hellberg’s side back to second following a brief stint on top.

He felt it was a game of fine margins, though.

He said: “Disappointed we played too much into their hands.

“They were better than us in the first half. Second half we were brilliant, take away the two situations where they scored.

“We created lots of opportunities. They score both of them for not doing too much. They were awful goals to concede.

“I know if our performances are good enough we will be in a good position in the table at the end of the season. You look at the game and we had 17 shots in the game.

“(Coventry are a) good team, good players, squad and coach. It was a game of very small margins. It’ll be a race till the last day probably so we just need to enjoy it.”