Norwich opened up a four-point lead at the top of the SkyBet Championship with a 2-0 win against Coventry at St. Andrew’s.

Teemu Pukki and Emi Buendia combined twice for a goal each as the damage was done before half-time.

And victory means the Canaries, who capitalised on second-placed Brentford’s loss at QPR, have lost just once in their last nine league games.

Daniel Farke opted for an unchanged line-up following Saturday’s 4-1 win over Stoke and the visitors’ dependable defence recorded their fifth clean sheet in eight games.

Mark Robins made four changes to his starting line-up but the Sky Blues couldn’t overturn their poor run of form which leaves them with just one win in seven.

Norwich squandered the best chance of the early stages when Todd Cantwell couldn’t sort his feet out in time to tap home Pukki’s square ball after he was found by Mario Vrancic’s defence-splitting pass.

Coventry registered four shots in the opening half an hour, but it was the league leaders who got their noses in front on 28 minutes.

Norwich’s leading creator Buendia set Pukki free down the right and the Finn finished incisively into the bottom left hand-corner past the returning Ben Wilson.

It was another one of Robins’ changes who was at fault for the second, as Kyle McFadzean was caught napping by Pukki who nicked possession on the stroke of half time.

One-on-one with Wilson, he unselfishly squared for the second time and it was Buendia who was in the right place to tap into an empty net and double the lead.

Former Norwich striker Robins made an attacking switch at half time, introducing Maxime Biamou in place of Josh Allen and the Sky Blues roared into life after the interval.

Former Holland keeper Tim Krul was forced into action for the first time as he smothered at the feet of Callum O’Hare before Gustavo Hamer’s fizzing effort went agonisingly wide of the post.

Max Aarons went closest for Norwich in the second half when he forced a save from Wilson after Cantwell’s exquisite cross-field pass, before Kieran Dowell fired over as the visitors ran out comfortable winners.