David Wagner made no apologies for Norwich City’s steely approach to an important 2-1 Championship win against play-off rivals Coventry City.

Sky Blues’ chief and former Norwich striker Mark Robins accused the Canaries of trying to kick winger Tatsuhiro Sakamoto ‘out of the game’.

Both Robins and the travelling fans were also clearly unimpressed at what they interpreted as unflattering pre-match ‘sexy’ comments from Wagner towards the Midlands club.  

But the German hailed a front foot performance that moved his side within a win of the top six.

“We said from the first whistle we go on the front foot and we get in their faces, because this is a team if they enjoy their football they can cause you really big problems,” he said. “We wanted to make sure they did not enjoy the game. Especially first half we were very energetic, very front-foot in our defending and very brave.

"In ball possession, we really tried to play football. We didn't get the result for our good performance at half-time and then, all of a sudden, we were 1-0 down after a very avoidable goal from our own throw in.

"But how the players reacted to this, the belief they have shown, the impact players which came from the bench as well, to come back after being 1-0 down against a top side, and I said this beforehand about Coventry, it's just fantastic.”

Wagner reiterated he was full of praise for the job Robins has done at the Sky Blues.

“If there was a misunderstanding. I clearly like to apologise for it,” he said. “I said if others think Coventry is not the most sexist football team in the world, I think exactly the opposite. I said how much I like their style of football.

"It’s not that I don’t think they play sexy football or they don’t have the biggest names. No, they play super good football, they totally deserve where they are in this season and the seasons before.

“But maybe what I wanted to say was that a lot of people from England who know this division, and the clubs in it better than I do, would suggest they are not one of the top guns, or not as sexy as other teams. That's not my opinion.”