NIGEL Adkins hailed a “great” victory at Coventry, as Saints ended a run of five away games without a win.

The manager watched on as his side prevailed 4-2 in a rollercoaster of a match at the Ricoh Arena to maintain their advantage at the top of the Championship.

“It’s a great victory. It’s three points,” he said.

“We were expected to win the game, because of where we are in the league.

“I said don’t underestimate Coventry, because I think they play some good football.

“I was really pleased about the first half, and then we’ve gone on and won the game, which was pleasing.”

Saints relinquished a 2-0 half-time lead, before recovering to win the match.

Adkins said: “The second half all we talked about is trying to be positive in our approach and making sure we’re tuned in and clued in.

“Lo and behold in the first minute we give them a corner and one of the players has knocked off, not marked the player they’re supposed to mark, and it gives them an easy goal and a lift.”

He added: “Obviously they’ve gone and scored another goal. It’s come off a deflection, but we should have done better defensively as a team to clear the ball.

“And at 2-2 it’s a case of ‘come on then, there’s a question mark, there’s a test.’ The supporters were great and we needed everybody then.

“The supporters got behind everybody, players kept calm on the pitch, we had quality that shone out with a great cross from Dan Fox, superb header from Guly do Prado puts us 3-2 in the lead and then we’ve gone and seen the game out.”