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73 min: Rovers have made a sub, Ryan Hedges coming on for Moussa Baradji, Hedges back from a broken leg, is right into the action.
71 min: That’s Rudoni’s last touch, as he’s replaced by Thomas-Asante. Lampard smells a way back in.
70 min: Mason-Clark threatens but Cashin clears him out…then, ooof, Rudoni rattles the post, his header coming back out. Haji Wright is offside from the rebound.
69 min: Perhaps Coventry’s best hope is Blackburn deciding to sit on their lead as until then, the various duels are being won by Rovers.
67 min: Alebiosu has been outsanding. Another lung-bursting run causes all kinds of trouble, as does his cross. Blackburn remain much the better team here.
66 min: Mason-Clark gets space, the ball goes across to Esse, but his incursion comes quickly to an end.
65 min: Gardner-Hickman has been booked, having been so busy in midfield.
64 min: Haji Wright is quickly involved, and Blackburn have to hurry the ball clear. It eventually ends up landing on the top of the net.
62 min: Three changes, Simms off, Haji Wright on; Onyeka off for Torp; Latibeaudiere off, Esse on.
61 min: Thomas makes a fine block, and needs to as Alebiosu puts in another of those dangerous crosses. Coventry are equally nervous at the resultant corner. Long hoik to Rudoni come to nothing.
Dominic Booth
60 min: More from Dom Booth at Ewood: “If Blackburn were going to get a goal it was always going to come through a combination of Morishita and Alebiosu. Both have been excellent on the hosts’ right flank and Coventry can’t complain it wasn’t coming. I suspect Lampard will turn to his bench in search of a response – the Sky Blues two top scorers, Haji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Asante, are sitting there waiting to be called upon. “We are staying up,” sing the home faithful.”
57 min: What can Coventry find now? They’ve been second best, and now Frank Lampard must be considering changes. Three at the back doesn’t seem to have worked.
55 min: That Milky song being sung by Rovers fans now. Everyone’s got their version.
Goal! Blackburn 1-0 Coventry (Morishita, 54)
Panic for Coventry as a corner is cleared, and Morishita gallops away. The ball seems to be cleared and then Alebiosu – again – is involved. Morishita shoots, there’s a deflection off Bobby Thomas and the promotion party is on hold.
52 min: The Coventry fans are singing a song to the tune of Just The Way You Are” by Milky. Football songs get camper, don’t they?
51 min: Ructions as Onyeka and Ribeiro square up. The money’s down on Onyeka.
49 min: Coventry looking much livelier. Mason-Clark tries to make something happen before Grimes’ cross is cleared.
47 min: No half-time changes, by the way. An early glimmer, as Ribeiro makes a mistakes, as Van Ewijk’s cross comes in, and it takes a fine block on Simms from McLoughlin.
46 min: Back away we go at Ewood Park. Far better required from Coventry, that’s for sure. They’re now attacking their fans. Will that bring about any improvement?
Half-time: Blackburn 0-0 Coventry
Job half-done but not done at all well by Coventry. Rovers really should be leading and there’s work to do to claim the point that Cov need.
45+2 min: Wow, Rovers go so close, and it takes Latibeaudiere’s backside to block what is a goalbound shot from Morishita. Alebiosu has been excellent down the Rovers’ right flank. That’s the last of the half.
45 min: The aforementioned Rudoni’s free-kick, an attempt to get a cross in, is awful. Dear me. This has been nervy.
44 min: A rare Coventry sortie, DaSilva and Mason-Clark involved, the latter knocking wide when the ball drops low for him from a decent cross. They could have done with that Rudoni shot being far better. That’s as good as it’s got.
43 min: Rancour as Ribeiro is fouled, and the ball is called dead when Rovers were in a decent position. Then Morishita wants a throw-in, and is right to ask for it.
Dominic Booth
42 min: More from Dom Booth at Ewood: “The game has drifted into a bit of a lull, perhaps with Coventry safe in the knowledge a draw is good enough to seal promotion and Blackburn content with a point to aid their survival campaign. It has actually been the hosts who have been better in the middle portion of this first half; I’ve been particularly impressed with Ryoya Morishita, who is playing in the right No 10 position in O’Neill’s 3-4-3. Blackburn need to get the ball right to him and Ryan Alebiosu, whose crosses have asked questions of Coventry’s defence. All it takes is one Blackburn goal to wreak worry within the visiting ranks.”
40 min: Long ball out wide aimed for DaSilva, and jeers from the home crowd when the ball runs out.
38 min: Perhaps eyeing a Lampard pep talk, Coventry are passing the ball round in defence. But then they try to hurry it up, and are again offside. Frank Lampard is muttering away to his assistant, Joe Edwards, another Chelsea alumnus.
36 min: Were Blackburn to have a bit more quality in the final third, then they could be out of sight. Coventry are struggling here.
34 min: Blackburn continue to impress. Considering their injuries it’s amazing they are in such trouble. Morishita causes sincere trouble down the inside left position, and it takes Van Ewijk’s fine tackle to stop him meeting a loose ball.
32 min: Mason-Clark offside now. Coventry are a little hurried, anxious.
31 min: Coventry are 30 minutes in, and it’s not been at all easy. They haven’t managed to sustain the pressure they’d like to keep up. Simms gets to the byline, and Mason-Clark is the target. Atcheson, who has been excellent so far, makes another intervention.
28 min: Ohashi’s header hits the bar, Latibeaudiere failing to climb with the striker. Another fine cross from Alebiosu, though the Japanese striker is penalised for a push. That looked soft.
26 min: Coventry get a big chance, 36 passes completed and Rudoni has the chance to shoot. He hits the side-netting. That was poor, considering.
25 min: Matt Grimes, the playmaker, is dropping deep to try and force the issue, though Rovers’ Gardner-Hickman is following him everywhere.
22 min: Van Ewijk tries to set up a Cov attack from wing-back but Blackburn so go on the counter with Atcheson firing in a cross. Rushworth has been the busier keeper by far.
20 min: Coventry have been a little nervy here. Rovers are looking solid and full of adventure. They are playing for their lives. Coventry only need a point and that may not suit them. Lampard is a coach who likes his teams to attack.
18 min: More Cov nostalgia, from John Brennan: “My friend for reasons unknown to himself even had a Coventry City gear bag in college that he used to carry his clothes for the weekend. Every time I saw it, it was incongruous to me. Anyway, Coventry being back in the Premier League is great. My parents got Sky into the house for Christmas in 1999 and one of the first games I watched at home was Coventry beating Arsenal 3-2 with Robbie Keane scoring a delightful goal with the outside of his boot. That team with Keane & Cedric Roussel upfront and the two Moroccans of Chippo and Hadji in midfield were a fun watch back then.”
16 min: Neil Lavery gets in touch: “Hello John, 7,000 away fans at Ewood for a game that could decide promotion for them? How odd. Back in 2023 when Burnley were going for the title there that stand only held 2,000-ish…”
They must have built a bigger stand or something.
Dominic Booth
15 min: Dom Booth is at Ewood. “You wouldn’t have to be a football expert to sit in Ewood Park tonight and decipher which team were top of the table and which were battling relegation. And that’s based on the start both teams have made as well as the difference in supporter numbers. The vast swathes of empty seats in the home sections tell their own story just as the packed Coventry away end reflects a club on the rise. “Where we you when you were sh*t?” is the latest jibe from the Rovers fans – not that the Sky Blues supporters probably heard it, such is the din they are making. And their team are responding on the pitch with a confident start.”
14 min: There’s a delay as Onyeka, the Brentford loanee, goes down with a head injury.
13 min: Real let-off for Coventry as Ohashi gets a free header on goal. Nobody was marking him from the cross. Rovers are playing the better team. Ryan Alebiosu played a fine cross.
11 min: More Ohashi involvement, and he’s clear on goal, only for offside to haul him back. Carl Rushworth makes the save in any case.
10 min: Worrying moment for Ohashi when he is called back for a high kick. It was nothing more than a foul so no worries there. He’s walking on eggshells a bit, though.
9 min: Good historic info from Sky: it was at Ewood Park that Coventry, under Jimmy Hill, achieved promotion in April 1967. There’s a statue of Jim outside the Coventry Building Society Arena.
8 min: A long ball is aimed for Ellis Simms, but Atcheson clears from the Rovers defence. An early booking, for Rovers’ Ohashi when he loses the ball and then smashes into Grimes.
6 min: Great noise, and it’s coming from both sets of fans. Remember: Blackburn have plenty to play for. They can get to 51 points. That could be enough.
4 min: It’s all Coventry, with Matt Grimes’s cross causing havoc in the Rovers defence. They’re pinning back their opponents, and their back three are dominating possession.
3 min: First attack of the game from Coventry, Mason-Clarke seizing on a loose ball and then shooting. The shot is blocked.
Away we go at Ewood
1 min: There’s over 7,000 Cov fans here. A word from the club’s saviour, Mark Robins, now managing Stoke. Very nice about Doug King, the owner who removed him.
“They’re going up. I’m really pleased for them. Frank has done a fantastic job. He took over from me in difficult circumstances and he’s taken it to a different level. They will go up and they’ve got the stadium now and it looks certainly a lot more stable. Not only that, they’ve got a really good team, a top manager and they’ve done fantastically well.
“The owner has been incredible there, to be fair, and what he’s done for the club, the city and what plans they have when they eventually get up, I’m sure they’ll spend money and try to stay in there.”
The teams take to the field at Ewood Park. It’s all Coventry, the Jolly Boating song ringing out. It’s a bit more sparse in the home end, despite efforts from those in Warwickshire to get hold of tickets. The hill behind the Darwen End may well be full of Sky Blue, too.
Frank Lampard’s advice to his players: “Stay calm in your heads but not in your legs.”
Snappy.
Phil Rebbeck gets in touch: “In the early 1990s I was a university student living in Coventry and used to go to Highfield Road every now and then. The Sky Blues were away to local rivals Aston Villa on the last day of the season, still needing something out of the game. They contrived to concede a goal in the first minute and lost the game 2-0.
“However, results elsewhere went their way with Luton losing to already relegated Notts County. So Coventry managed another great escape on the last day and the three relegated teams were the aforementioned Luton and Notts County joined by a particularly hapless West Ham United.
“Still have a soft spot for them and will welcome them back in the Premier League being a Fulham fan!”
For Rovers, Eiran Cashin returns, replacing Harry the benched Pickering. Ryoya Morishita comes in for Nathan Redmond, also a substitute. Yuki Ohashi replaces Mathias Jorgensen as striker.
For Cov, two changes from Frank Lampard: Bobby Thomas into a back three while Ellis Simms is in for Haji Wright in the forward line. Brandon Thomas-Asante drops to the bench.
The teams
Blackburn: Toth, Atcheson, McLoughlin (c), Cashin, Alebiosu, Gardner-Hickman, Baradji, Montgomery, Ribeiro, Morishita, Ohashi. Subs: Pears, Pickering, De Neve, Hedges, Afolayan, O’Riordan, Redmond, Forshaw, Jorgensen
Coventry: Rushworth; Latibeaudiere, Thomas, Kitching; Van Ewijk, Onyeka, Grimes, Dasilva; Rudoni, Simms, Mason-Clark. Subs: Wilson, Woolfenden, Bidwell, Kesler-Hayden, Eccles, Thomas-|Asante, Torp, Haji Wright, Esse.
Coventry need just a draw, remember. The away tickets for this game are the hottest tickets in town since 1987 or The Specials reunion.
Blackburn are not out of the woods, of course. The picture at the bottom is made cloudier by the potential/probable points deduction headed West Brom’s way. Michael O’Neill, also the Northern Ireland manager, of course, has a fight on his hands. Tuesday’s defeat to Southampton, and no win since Good Friday has made things uncomfortable.
The excellent Nick Ames on the Championship promotion race and beyond.
In 2001, Cov’s run of being in the top division since 1967 came to an end after a defeat to Aston Villa. The Sky Blues had stayed up on the final day 10 times over that time though this was the penultimate games of the season. They closed out by being relegated alongside Bradford in a 0-0 draw.
Teams that day:
Aston Villa: James, Delaney, Wright, Southgate, Barry, Boateng, Taylor, Merson, Staunton, Dublin, Vassell. Subs: Angel, Ginola, Hendrie, Stone, Enckelman.
Coventry: Kirkland, Williams, Breen, Quinn, Telfer, Eustace, Carsley, Hadji, Hall, Bellamy, Hartson. Subs: Hedman, Edworthy, Zuniga, Strachan, Bothroyd.
Preamble
It was in 2001 that Coventry last played Premier League football. It’s been an odyssey since, taking in a new stadium, exile from that new stadium, relegation to the fourth tier and financial brinkmanship. Now, after a couple of near misses, they are on the way back. It may already be all but done but winning (or even drawing) at Blackburn would confirm it for Frank Lampard’s team.
Kick-off at Ewood Park is at 8pm BST. Join me.
