NEVER one to mince his words Gordon Strachan was, not for the first time, blunt in his opinion of Saturday's game.

"If Kieron Dyer was on my side we would have won the game," was Strachan's honest and very possibly accurate view. "He is an exceptional talent."

There's not much chance of Dyer heading to Coventry but his talent will not be at the Magpie's disposal for the next two games, and Bobby Robson will be praying that time is sufficient for the England midfielder to recover from shin splints.

Newcastle fans will remember that shin splints spell trouble.

A certain Andy Cole played his last few months in a black and white shirt with the condition.

In that time Cole struggled to find his form and it affected his first season and a half at Man Utd.

Robson's insistence that "there isn't a better forward in the Premiership" at the moment may well be correct and the Newcastle fans will join their manager in praying the problem doesn't affect their most consistent player in the same way.

Although Newcastle matched their biggest win in the Premiership this term, in truth it was largely thanks to Dyer and Steve Harper that the game was not a much closer affair.

With Coventry's finishing being from the Andreas Andersson school of goalscoring, Gordon Strachan will be hopeful that he can successfuly conclude the deal to bring John Hartson to Highfield Road this week.

A first half, mainly devoid of entertainment, was eventful in that the Sky Blues were forced to call up Magnus Hedman after goalkeeper Chris Kirkland was injured in the warm-up.

With Coventry still coming to terms with their loss, Gary Speed did what he does best, coming late on a corner to power a header past Hedman.

There followed 41 minutes of truly forgettable football, punctuated by misses from Dyer and Ameobi for Newcastle, and Eustace for Coventry.

Having passed a late fitness test, Dyer decided a 45 minute warm-up was enough to shrug off his shin splint worries.

Having been largely anonymous for the first period he "let rip" in the second half.

Clearly under the impression that he had to fit 90 minutes work into 45, Dyer set about putting the game beyond the Sky Blues.

After 47 minutes he was put clear by Solano - a link up that will be sorely missed on Wednesday night at Aston Villa - and having done the hard work by racing clear in the box, he sent his effort into the side netting.

In the 53rd a flick header by Ameobi gave Dyer the chance to set up Solano on the edge of the box, only for the Peruvian's effort to be saved by the legs of Hedman.

Five minutes later and this time Dyer's efforts didn't go to waste. Having again linked up with Solano down the right, he placed the ball into the path of Shola Ameobi.

The teenage striker didn't even have to break stride as he cooly slotted the ball under the body of Hedman for his first senior goal.

Dyer decided he'd had enough of the appetisers, and reserved the main course until the 66th minute.

A neat one-two with who else but Solano in his own half, and Dyer set off on a run that ended when he curled the ball in with the outside of his right boot from the edge of the box.

Dyer's display aside, Coventry had around half a dozen opportunities in the second half to put themselves back in the game.

Misses by Williams, Thompson, several from Bellamy, Aloisi and Eustace confirmed Strachan's view that his side had created a good few chances.

In the 72nd minute Harper had to be at his best, after Aloisi's flick had let in Bellamy in the box, only for the Newcastle keeper to block well with his legs.

Chants from the fans of there's only one Stevie Harper may give Shay Given even more food for thought.

After spurning a hatful of golden chances it was fitting that their consolation was bizarre.

An inswinging corner on 80 minutes left Stephen Glass thinking to himself why was he on the back post. By the time he'd realised it was to defend it was too late, and the ball was in the back of the net off his head. A little harsh to call it an own goal.

Back to the man of the moment and in this form Sven-Goran Eriksson will be as anxious as Robson about Dyer's fitness, and talk linking him with teams like Man Utd and Leeds Utd will continue to annoy Robson who quipped "we'd only sell for £100m".

Speaking of other clubs' interest Robson said: "In terms of ground size and fans we are second only to Man Utd and we are not a selling club."

That maybe disappointing news for Sir Alex Ferguson, David O'Leary and not forgetting Gordon Strachan