Frank Lampard barely smiled at the final whistle before hugging beaten Middlesbrough manager Kim Hellberg. Lampard gave his usual three-pump celebration in the far corner of the South Stand, took a quick victory lap around the pitch with his players, then set off down the tunnel with his hands in his pockets.
This 3-1 victory over title rivals Middlesbrough could mean everything in the promotion race, but it could mean nothing at all. Coventry are back at the top of the Championship, but it may not be for long, as Lampard knows, given tough away games on the horizon. But after a desperate run of two wins out of eight, this victory was essential to restore shattered confidence.
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Only last Monday, Coventry fans booed their team after a frustrating 0-0 draw against struggling Oxford United, which opened the door for Middlesbrough to usurp them at the top. The fans groaned and groaned as Haji Wright missed a series of headed chances. But a week is a long time in football. Here, the name of the American giant resonated on the pitch after a hat-trick which may have changed the course of the campaign.
Coventry are back on top and there is renewed belief in the CBS Arena after these weeks of worrying slowdown to which Lampard seemed to have no answers. He had cut and changed teams, even dropping both central defenders last week in a bid to reinvigorate his team. The skillful and ruthless Coventry who took the league lead in the autumn had given way to a slow and turgid team over the winter, lacking their previous advantage.
Frank Lampard delivers his usual three-goal celebration in front of Coventry fans (Getty Images)
He hopes that this victory will generate new momentum. Coventry had to withstand a lot of pressure from Hellberg’s free-flowing Boro, who changed positions and made quick connections in tight spaces around the box and generally tried to put on a show with the ball. They dominated possession with over 70 percent, as they have in most games since Hellberg took charge, but Riley McGree’s well-taken second-half goal was all they had to show for their offensive effort.
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Perhaps it was an opponent who sensed how Hellberg liked his team to play. The full-backs’ familiar diagonal passing lanes into the attack were stifled, like bishops blocked on a chessboard. Boro had the most success down the flanks where Tommy Conway frequently took off into space, but his final pass missed its target and Boro wasted the best chances to hurt their hosts.
Hellberg was still going to keep the same lineup that dismantled Sheffield United so impressively away last week, so the ball was in Lampard’s court: was he going to throw away the 4-2-3-1 system that had gotten Coventry to this position but failed for so long, or was he going to try something new? Lampard kept his cool, maintaining the same form, although he made changes by bringing in winger Ephron Mason-Clark and handing Nigeria international Frank Onyeka his debut early on, having joined on loan from Brentford in January.
Hellberg promised Boro he would never play anything other than his free-flowing, attacking approach that had propelled them to the top of the table, and his players were true to his word. They set up in a theoretical 4-1-3-2, with Morgan Whittaker and the relentless Conway as separate attackers. But Boro’s efforts to circulate the ball liberally in midfield were met with fierce resistance, particularly in the form of Onyeka, who crashed into tackles and carried his new team forward when he won them, earning a booking and also earning one in his ongoing battle with midfield playmaker Aidan Morris.
Haji Wright scores Coventry’s second goal (Getty Images)
Coventry took a deserved lead by attacking down the right with winger Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, who broke away from two defenders before finding Jack Rudoni in the box. Rudoni slipped a low pass into the center where Wright first time stabbed a low pass through the legs of goalkeeper Sol Brynn.
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Boro started the second half well and were looking to equalize when a long kick from Coventry keeper Carl Rushworth pushed Wright towards goal, and the striker bullied Luke Ayling off the ball before smashing Brynn first time. McGree fired Boro back into the game after waves of pressure, but Matt Targett’s brainless handball 17 seconds after the restart gave Coventry a penalty, and Wright powered home his third to spark a deafening noise inside the stadium.
Coventry are therefore back on top, one point above Middlesbrough and eight points ahead of Ipswich, who have two games in hand and look the most likely of the chasing pack to grab the top two. Lampard is not celebrating yet. But Coventry have stopped the rot and their fans believe in it again. It’s as big as any victory: winning their home games and that could be enough to reach the Premier League after 25 years away.
