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Frank Lampard talks to Sky Sports. “Enjoy it while it’s there … we don’t always get these nights and these results … the fans are a massive part of what we do … both teams took part in a great game of football and we’ve come out on top … this team has got character … there’s always tension at this part of the season … we started to play their game … credit to Derby because they had a good feeling at the end of the first half … after half time it was more us … a different performance … you can ask [Onyeka] whether it was a shot, I’m taking it as a shot!”
Jack Rudoni, the player of the match, speaks to Sky Sports. “It’s good … I’ve only trained for two days … the gaffer was ‘are you sure you have 30 in you?!’ … I was ‘yeah sure!’ … buzzing to come on and help the team … thought I’d won it with the first one … we had to respond again … that’s been us all season … whenever we have a setback, the fight from the boys has been brilliant … we never dwell on it … we come right back … it shows the spirit … of course it’s close … let’s just win the games … we’re staying focused … we’re a good side and we believe in ourselves … yeah, we’ll do it! We’ll do it!”
As for his mate Frank Onyeka … did he mean that first goal?! “I saw the keeper and thought I have to chip it! … ha ha! … but good goal! … I hope it’s the first of many more to come.”
Coventry City are now so close to ending their quarter-century exile from the Premier League. Just eight more points will guarantee promotion … and they’ve got home games to come against doomed Sheffield Wednesday and struggling Portsmouth. What a story it would be if they make it, perhaps with Millwall in tow. Anyone else of a certain generation got the theme to ITV’s The Match as an earworm?
Coventry and Derby shared eight goals at Pride Park last August; they share five tonight in another thriller! Derby were the better team in the first half, but Coventry showed the resilience of champions afterwards. They were greatly improved in the second, and ended up deserved winners, refusing to buckle when Derby levelled for a second time thanks to an unjustly awarded spot kick. Jack Rudoni is their two-goal hero, and he leads the celebrations as the CBS Arena slips into party mode. A huge result in the race for the Championship title, and promotion to the Premier League!
FULL TIME: Coventry City 3-2 Derby County
Coventry are now just eight points away from a return to the Premier League!
90 min +8: There’s still time for Allen to swing one in from the right. Agyemang meets the dropping ball at the far stick, but he’s falling backwards and can neither head goalwards nor send the ball back across the face of goal! Instead he eyebrows it out for a goal kick.
90 min +7: … then erupts with relief as Ward wafts a dismal free kick straight into the arms of Rushworth.
90 min +6: Brereton Diaz wins a cheap free kick off Mason-Clark, 35 yards out, just to the right of centre. One last chance for Derby to throw a Hail Mary. The CBS Arena falls into nervous almost-silence …
90 min +5: Ward probes down the right but Dasilva is not for passing.
90 min +4: Rudoni wastes as much time as he can before taking the resulting free kick. Derby eventually snaffle the ball back but Brereton Diaz is only able to blooter upfield and out for a throw. Time, Coventry’s friend now, continues to march on.
90 min +3: Rudoni, Coventry’s hero in waiting, takes the corner short, then draws a foul. The clock ticks on.
90 min +2: Mason-Clark drives down the left and glides infield. He aims a curler towards the far corner. The ball takes a deflection off Ward and nearly loops in, the keeper rooted and stranded. But it sails out for a corner.
90 min +1: The first of seven additional minutes. The home fans with a collective sharp intake of breath.
90 min: Coventry replace their captain Grimes with Torp.
89 min: Murkin with space down the left. But he can’t beat the first man with his cross. It really hasn’t been his night. But say what you will about Derby’s unfortunate left-back, at least he’s not been anonymous Murkin. (And yes I did require a supersize crowbar to squeeze in that reference to an obscure Anthony Newley musical that doesn’t quite work now I come to think about it.)
87 min: Agyemang steams down the left and rolls a pass across the face of the Coventry box for Fraulo, who lets the ball trundle across his body … and there goes the opportunity to shoot.
86 min: Ozoh makes way for Allen.
85 min: Agyemang and Fraulo combine at speed down the left. For a second, it looks as though they’ve opened Coventry up, but That Man Van Ewijk arrives from nowhere to intercept and clear! He’s everywhere at the moment.
84 min: These two teams have rustled up 13 goals between them in their showdowns so far this season. Time for another? Derby fancy their chances of another equaliser, but Fraulo can’t sort his feet out in the box.
83 min: Another assist for that man Van Ewijk, by the way! A case study in never giving up.
82 min: Rushworth celebrated that goal as though he’d scored it himself. A release of all that frustration. And in other frustration news, Agyemang leaves a cheeky one on Thomas, studs atop the boot. He’s booked for it, and can count himself lucky not to be walking. Thankfully Thomas survives.
GOAL! Coventry City 3-2 Derby County (Rudoni 80)
Sakamoto dribbles down the right. He’s held up but cuts back for Van Ewijk, who curls low into the mixer. Rudoni meets the ball first time, and sweeps a sidefoot across O’Donnell and into the bottom left!
79 min: Coventry will wonder how they allowed themselves to be split apart so easily. But then again, they might not, because …
GOAL! Coventry City 2-2 Derby County (Brereton Diaz 77 pen)
Brereton Diaz sidefoots into the right-hand portion of the net, having sent Rushworth the wrong way. Poor Rushworth, who flicked the ball away from the keeper only to be penalised. But nobody was saving that pen.
Penalty for Derby County!
76 min: A ball down the middle of the park for Brereton Diaz. He’s clear! He takes a heavy touch, though, and in trying to go round Rushworth on the left, goes over the keeper’s arm. The referee points to the spot, though the keeper got a fingertip to the ball. It was fine work from the keeper, but he’s unfairly punished. No VAR, so the decision will stand. Rushworth fuming!
74 min: Ward slips a pass down the left for Agyemang, who fizzes a low shot-cum-cross towards the near post. But there’s nobody in Derby grey making a run, and Rushworth claims without fuss.
73 min: Banel, who had his chances to put Derby into the lead, is replaced by Fraulo.
72 min: Onyeka busies himself down the right and wins a corner. Nothing comes of it, but Coventry are well on top now.
70 min: Hats off to Frank Lampard for the supersub. Hats off to Van Ewijk, too, who seconds earlier had wasted a similarly good opportunity to cross from the right. His delivery not for the first time this evening poor. But he didn’t give up, kept coming back, and this time was on the money.
GOAL! Coventry City 2-1 Derby County (Rudoni 68)
Rudoni sends Van Ewijk into space down the right. Van Ewijk reaches the byline and cuts back for Rudoni, who traps but slips. However the slip inadvertently sends the Derby defence the wrong way! Rudoni gets back up, shifts the ball to his left, and whistles a low shot into the bottom right! Derby wrong-footed as one!
67 min: That slew of substitutions has kind of jiggered the flow of the game. It’s like the international break never stopped.
65 min: Since the break, Coventry have made 35 passes in the opposition’s final third to Derby’s four. The visitors have to do something, so they swap out Morris for Agyemang.
63 min: The triple change, then. Mason-Clark, Wright and Rudoni replace Eccles, Simms and Esse.
62 min: Coventry’s tails are up. Derby pinned back. The final ball is lacking, though, so Coventry prepare a triple change. Before it can be made, Derby boss John Eustace is booked for telling it as he sees it.
60 min: Grimes cuts Derby apart with a forensic slide down the inside-right channel. He releases Van Ewijk, whose cutback is no good. But Coventry come again, this time down the left flank. Esse releases Eccles, who sends another one-on-one effort straight at the keeper! Nothing comes of the resulting corner.
58 min: Esse slips Dasilva into space down the left. Dasilva’s low cross is battered clear by Murkin. This is pretty intense.
56 min: … and now Derby get away with a huge one. Ward’s backpass is intercepted by Eccles, who faces down O’Donnell. Eccles opens his body and aims for the bottom right, but telegraphs his intention and the keeper blocks well. The rebound falls to Simms, who hoicks over the bar. Both teams making mistakes, both going unpunished.
55 min: Onyeka nearly gifts possession to Ozoh, 35 yards from his own goal. Coventry have suddenly got a bit sloppy. A better touch from Ozoh and he’d have been away. The hosts getting away with a couple.
53 min: Travis cynically walks into the path of Esse, and it’s a free kick. He’s already been booked, so really wants to watch himself here. You’ve seen referees book folk for less. The bar’s always higher for a second yellow, I guess, even if we all know it shouldn’t be.
52 min: Sakamoto whips a dangerous cross in from the right. Clarke clears yet again, with Simms lurking. Derby counter through Brereton Diaz on the right. He crosses low and hard. Thomas tries to intercept with a slide, but misses the ball. If Banel controls with his first touch, he’s one on one with Rushworth. But his first touch is clunky, and that allows Thomas to spring up and flick clear.
50 min: Sakamoto and Van Ewijk combine well down the right, but when the ball’s cut back for Grimes, the resulting cross goes straight down O’Donnell’s throat. It’s Derby’s fans making the most noise at the moment.
49 min: Sakamoto sprays a right-to-left diagonal in the direction of Esse, but Ward diverts the ball back to O’Donnell with a stooping header. Promising early second-half signs for Coventry, after being on the back foot so much just before the break.
47 min: Coventry are on the front foot immediately. Esse shoots. Blocked. Another wave. Esse crosses. Clarke, who has been excellent tonight, clears.
Coventry get the second half underway. No changes. Yet.
Half-time postbag. “Evening Scott. [Deletes half-written email about how Derby have got little out of the top six this season, probably aren’t yet ready for the play offs, but have maintained appreciable progress for a third year on the trot so that’s OK.] GAME ON!! HAVE THAT, FRANK LAMPARD’S COVENTRY CITY!!!!” – Tom Hopkins
HALF TIME: Coventry City 1-1 Derby County
The whistle goes before Derby can take a corner, and Coventry disappear down the tunnel. Derby have been much the better side. Work for the league leaders to do. Derby’s play-off hopes are real.
45 min +3: They really could! Because Ozoh’s hustle wins possession out on the left. The ball’s shifted to the right for Ward, who crosses to the far post. Morris heads back across goal, but Banel can’t force a header home from six yards. Coventry somehow escape!
45 min +2: Coventry really could do with hearing that whistle all right.
45 min +1: Esse plays a loose backpass straight to Banel, who is suddenly one on one with the keeper! He aims low and hard for the bottom right, but Rushworth makes a crucial stop! Derby should be leading. But what heroics from the Coventry keeper.
45 min: There will be three additional first-half minutes.
43 min: Esse probes down the left and wins a corner off Ward, who he looks to have the beating of. Everyone in sky blue comes up for the set piece … but Eccles hoicks it over everyone’s head and out for a goal kick. The CBS Arena a little bit stunned by the momentum shift. Frank Lampard not looking quite so content now.
41 min: Now Clarke gets back to the day job, stopping Simms as the Coventry striker bustles down the middle of the park. Derby have their tails up, and they counter, Brereton Diaz sending a low cross into the Coventry box. Kitching clears. All of a sudden, Coventry could do with hearing the half-time whistle.
40 min: That was one hell of a cross from Clarke, it really was. And a fine run by the Derby centre-back to get himself into a position to deliver it! Wow.
GOAL! Coventry City 1-1 Derby County (Brereton Diaz 38)
They’ve got some reward now! Clarke channels his inner Beckenbauer to dribble his way down the inside-left channel. He reaches the edge of the box and whips in a stunning cross to the far stick. Brereton Diaz, steaming in from the other side, plants a header across Rushworth and in! A wonderful connection, but the quality of the cross was such that he could hardly miss!
37 min: Derby have enjoyed 58 percent of possession since the Coventry goal. But they’ve not forced Rushworth into any meaningful action.
36 min: There are no recriminations. Simms was within his rights to go for the ball he’d flicked into the Derby box, and he accidentally poked the keeper instead. Thankfully O’Donnell is fine. Hard but fair. We all play on.
35 min: The tempo drops, and for the first time this evening the CBS Arena falls quiet. But suddenly Sakamoto loops a long pass down the right. Simms juggles the ball inside Sanderson and stretches a leg for it. O’Donnell comes off his line to bravely smother, because he takes a clatter from Simms for his trouble.
33 min: A period of Derby possession in Coventry territory. But they don’t apply any serious pressure. On the touchline, Frank Lampard looks calm and content.
