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Half-time: Blackburn 0-0 Coventry<\/p>\n
Job half-done but not done at all well by Coventry. Rovers really should be leading and there\u2019s work to do to claim the point that Cov need.<\/p>\n
Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45+2 min: Wow, Rovers go so close, and it takes Latibeaudiere\u2019s backside to block what is a goalbound shot from Morishita. Alebiosu has been excellent down the Rovers\u2019 right flank. That\u2019s the last of the half.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 45 min: The aforementioned Rudoni\u2019s free-kick, an attempt to get a cross in, is awful. Dear me. This has been nervy.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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\u2019s as good as it\u2019s got.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Dominic Booth<\/p>\n 42 min: More from Dom Booth at Ewood: \u201cThe 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\u2019ve been particularly impressed with Ryoya Morishita, who is playing in the right No 10 position in O\u2019Neill\u2019s 3-4-3. Blackburn need to get the ball right to him and Ryan Alebiosu, whose crosses have asked questions of Coventry\u2019s defence. All it takes is one Blackburn goal to wreak worry within the visiting ranks.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 40 min: Long ball out wide aimed for DaSilva, and jeers from the home crowd when the ball runs out.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 34 min: Blackburn continue to impress. Considering their injuries it\u2019s amazing they are in such trouble. Morishita causes sincere trouble down the inside left position, and it takes Van Ewijk\u2019s fine tackle to stop him meeting a loose ball.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 32 min: Mason-Clark offside now. Coventry are a little hurried, anxious.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 31 min: Coventry are 30 minutes in, and it\u2019s not been at all easy. They haven\u2019t managed to sustain the pressure they\u2019d 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 28 min: Ohashi\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Coventry City keeper Carl Rushworth watches the ball as it goes past him and clatters against the bar. Photograph: Matt West\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.50 EDT<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Jack Rudoni can only find the side netting. Photograph: Ryan Browne\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.48 EDT<\/p>\n 25 min: Matt Grimes, the playmaker, is dropping deep to try and force the issue, though Rovers\u2019 Gardner-Hickman is following him everywhere.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.27 EDT<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 18 min: More Cov nostalgia, from John Brennan: \u201cMy friend for reasons unknown to himself even had a Coventry City<\/a> 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 16 min: Neil Lavery gets in touch: \u201cHello 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\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n They must have built a bigger stand or something.<\/p>\n If you build it, they will come. Photograph: Anna Gowthorpe\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.22 EDT<\/p>\n Dominic Booth<\/p>\n 15 min: Dom Booth is at Ewood. \u201cYou wouldn\u2019t 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\u2019s 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. \u201cWhere we you when you were sh*t?\u201d is the latest jibe from the Rovers fans \u2013 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.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 14 min: There\u2019s a delay as Onyeka, the Brentford loanee, goes down with a head injury.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n An unmarked Yuki Ohashi fails to find the target with a free header. Photograph: Phil Bryan\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.27 EDT<\/p>\n 11 min: More Ohashi involvement, and he\u2019s clear on goal, only for offside to haul him back. Carl Rushworth makes the save in any case.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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\u2019s walking on eggshells a bit, though.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 9 min: Good historic info from Sky: it was at Ewood Park that Coventry, under Jimmy Hill, achieved promotion in April 1967. There\u2019s a statue of Jim outside the Coventry Building Society Arena.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 8 min: A long ball is aimed for Ellis Simms, but Atcheson clears from the Rovers defence. An early booking, for Rovers\u2019 Ohashi when he loses the ball and then smashes into Grimes.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 6 min: Great noise, and it\u2019s coming from both sets of fans. Remember: Blackburn have plenty to play for. They can get to 51 points. That could be enough.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 4 min: It\u2019s all Coventry, with Matt Grimes\u2019s cross causing havoc in the Rovers defence. They\u2019re pinning back their opponents, and their back three are dominating possession.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 3 min: First attack of the game from Coventry, Mason-Clarke seizing on a loose ball and then shooting. The shot is blocked.<\/p>\n Coventry\u2019s Ephron Mason-Clark has a pop at goal but unfortunately for the visitors, it was blocked. Photograph: Ryan Browne\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.18 EDT<\/p>\n Away we go at Ewood<\/p>\n 1 min: There\u2019s over 7,000 Cov fans here. A word from the club\u2019s saviour, Mark Robins, now managing Stoke. Very nice about Doug King, the owner who removed him.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re going up. I\u2019m really pleased for them. Frank has done a fantastic job. He took over from me in difficult circumstances and he\u2019s taken it to a different level. They will go up and they\u2019ve got the stadium now and it looks certainly a lot more stable. Not only that, they\u2019ve got a really good team, a top manager and they\u2019ve done fantastically well.<\/p>\n \u201cThe owner has been incredible there, to be fair, and what he\u2019s done for the club, the city and what plans they have when they eventually get up, I\u2019m sure they\u2019ll spend money and try to stay in there.\u201d<\/p>\n Some of the thousands of Coventry City fans who have made the 120 odd mile journey from Coventry to Ewood Park. Photograph: Ryan Browne\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.17 EDT<\/p>\n The teams take to the field at Ewood Park. It\u2019s all Coventry, the Jolly Boating song ringing out. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Frank Lampard\u2019s advice to his players: \u201cStay calm in your heads but not in your legs.\u201d<\/p>\n Snappy.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Phil Rebbeck gets in touch: \u201cIn 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.<\/p>\n \u201cHowever, 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.<\/p>\n \u201cStill have a soft spot for them and will welcome them back in the Premier League being a Fulham fan!\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>The teams<\/p>\n Blackburn: Toth, Atcheson, McLoughlin (c), Cashin, Alebiosu, Gardner-Hickman, Baradji, Montgomery, Ribeiro, Morishita, Ohashi. Subs: Pears, Pickering, De Neve, Hedges, Afolayan, O\u2019Riordan, Redmond, Forshaw, Jorgensen<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Coventry need just a draw, remember. The away tickets for this game are the hottest tickets in town since 1987 or The Specials reunion.<\/p>\n Some of those Coventry City fans lucky enough to get a ticket for the Ewood Park away end. Photograph: Phil Bryan\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a015.02 EDT<\/p>\n 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\u2019s way. Michael O\u2019Neill, also the Northern Ireland manager, of course, has a fight on his hands. Tuesday\u2019s defeat to Southampton, and no win since Good Friday has made things uncomfortable.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The excellent Nick Ames on the Championship<\/a> promotion race and beyond.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n In 2001, Cov\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n Teams that day:<\/p>\n Aston Villa: James, Delaney, Wright, Southgate, Barry, Boateng, Taylor, Merson, Staunton, Dublin, Vassell. Subs: Angel, Ginola, Hendrie, Stone, Enckelman.<\/p>\n Coventry: Kirkland, Williams, Breen, Quinn, Telfer, Eustace, Carsley, Hadji, Hall, Bellamy, Hartson. Subs: Hedman, Edworthy, Zuniga, Strachan, Bothroyd.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Preamble<\/p>\n