The Coventry City Late, Late Show returned as they defeated Sheffield Wednesday with a stoppage-time winner in an EFL Championship play-off race three-pointer.
28,121 fans were treated to an exciting game on a freezing and wet Saturday afternoon in S6, with Ellis Simms marking his third successive goal-scoring away performance despite the Owls being much the better side.
Sheffield Wednesday came into the game off the back of a 1-0 victory over Swansea City in midweek, while Coventry were hoping to ride the high of a last-gasp Bobby Thomas winner in their own 1-0 victory over QPR.
Danny Rohl had told the press this week that captain Barry Bannan’s return date was ‘unclear’, but he was back in the starting lineup for the Owls, while Di’Shon Bernard remains out following surgery.
There were three changes for the away side, with Luis Binks, the injured Victor Torp and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto making way for Joel Latibeaudiere, Josh Eccles and Brandon Thomas-Asante in a 5-3-2 formation.
Meanwhile, Jamie Paterson was named on the bench just a day after being confirmed as a signing on a free transfer, with the Coventry-born 33-year-old having been training with the side for a number of weeks after Charlotte FC of the MLS declined an option to extend his contract in South Carolina.
Wednesday had the first big opportunity, with Ingelsson’s run through on goal resulting in a remarkable pinball situation, where eventually Kitching cleared the ball off the line after a Gassama effort.
Barry Bannan was, at this point, running the show, but was lucky to get away without a yellow card after felling Liam Kitching 11 minutes in.
A few minutes later, despite the Owls being largely on top, it was the Sky Blues that struck, with Ellis Simms cushioning a header into the far corner following a beautiful Jack Rudoni cross from the right – despite the midfielder being a player forced to play on the left-hand side by Lampard a lot this season.
⛓️💥🔗⛓️💥 pic.twitter.com/dQGwNgLr9X
— Coventry City (@Coventry_City) February 15, 2025
It’s probably fair to say that this goal was against the run of play and immediately following the goal and for much of the first half, City were holding on for dear life, saved by Oliver Dovin in goal – which has been the case for much of this season.
It seemed, on 34 minutes, that Coventry had scored a second goal against the run of play, with Ellis Simms making the most of James Beadle spilling a Rudoni shot and putting it over the line, but the referee determined that this had been done with illegal contact on the Wednesday ‘keeper – despite him not having control of the ball at any point. A lucky man.
At half-time, the home side must have been wondering how on Earth they were behind in this game, having more shots, more chances and more possession, but good defending in recovery from the Sky Blues – often scrambling due to their high line – managed to see out the first 45.
Simmo has us up on HT. ⏸️ pic.twitter.com/tRISCFPzuM
— Coventry City (@Coventry_City) February 15, 2025
As expected, Josh Windass replaced Ingelsson in the first substitution of the afternoon for the second period of action, but Coventry were unchanged.
The Owls had all the corners in the first half, and started the second off with a few more, creating shooting opportunities for Michael Ihiekwe and Yan Valery, but they still couldn’t blow the Coventry doors down, despite the visitors being sloppy in possession.
Ike Ugbo – whose hold-up play had been the highlight of his performance – was substituted for Michael Smith in another change to the attack for Sheffield Wednesday, while Coventry adjusted their own forward line by swapping Thomas-Asante for the out-of-form Sakamoto.
Soon after, the Coventry defence couldn’t hold on any longer, with Marvin Johnson’s cross parried by Dovin before deflecting off Latibeaudiere and into the back of the net, punishing Frank Lampard’s side for sitting back and rewarding Danny Rohl’s team’s positive display.
This came from a poor attempt at a clearance by Jay Dasilva, with sloppiness and weak defending in the box finally haunting the Sky Blues.
By this point, momentum was well and truly with the home side, who had their tails up, while Lampard didn’t seem to be making any attempt to adjust a shape and approach that was very clearly not working.
It took until the 70th minute for their first corner of the match, which resulted from a Josh Eccles shot being blocked, but nothing came of it – despite City scoring from corners in each of their past two games.
With just over 10 to go, Jamie Allen, Jake Bidwell and Ephron Mason-Clark were substituted on for Jay Dasilva, Jack Rudoni and Josh Eccles, with a switch to a back four.
Sakamoto then had a header saved on the line by Beadle after Mason-Clark showed an immediate impact off the bench with a cross, before Johnson came close himself with a curling effort at the other end when Wednesday substitute Jamal Lowe delivered a wicked cross himself.
A couple of hopeful penalty appeals from the home side were waved away moments from time, but then, an Ellis Simms goal in stoppage time silenced the Hillsborough crowd and sent the 3,000-strong Sky Blue Army into raptures in the Leppings Lane End, with the striker pouncing on another James Beadle spill to give the Sky Blues the ultimate smash-and-grab.
⏹️ Defeat at Hillsborough.#SHWCOV | @MrVegas_Casino pic.twitter.com/FIy6MtZab9
— Sheffield Wednesday (@swfc) February 15, 2025
Remarkable. That’s football. Sheffield Wednesday were on top for almost the entire game, but as has been the case for much of Lampard’s time with Coventry, the away side snatched points despite a dreary performance.
This sees them leapfrog the Owls into seventh-place, with Danny Rohl’s men down to ninth.
FULL-TIME: Owls 1-2 Coventry City
