Blackburn Rovers 1 – 1 Coventry City: Sky Blues seal Premier League promotion | OneFootball

Coventry City confirmed their promotion back to the Premier League this evening following a tumultuous 25 year absence from England’s top flight.

Frank Lampard’s side fell behind early in the second-half when Ryoya Morishita fired home for Blackburn, a goal that looked like it would spoil the promotion party.

But a late equaliser from Bobby Thomas was enough to seal a historic promotion back to the top flight in front of 7,500 travelling fans.

As It Happened

Coventry searched for an early opener to get their promotion party started. However, Ephron Mason-Clarke, Jay Dasilva and Joel Latibeaudiere all saw their shots blocked. Yuki Ohashi registered the first real chance of the game, testing Carl Rushworth, who was equal to the close-range header. The Japanese forward also received the first yellow card of the night following a foul on Matt Grimes.

The hosts continued to grow into the game throughout the first half, geeing up the home fans in the process and creating a big atmosphere inside Ewood Park. Jack Rudoni almost opened the scoring on the half-hour mark, but his shot lashed into the side netting from inside the penalty area. Moments later, Ohashi was at the centre of attention again when his headed effort rattled the crossbar.

Coventry defender Milan Van Ejwik denied Blackburn the lead shortly after, flying across the box to make a superb last-ditch tackle on Yuri Ribeiro, bringing a cagey first-half to a close.

Tempers flared early in the second half when Ribeiro and Frank Onyeka squared up in the middle of the park, before teammates intervened. Both players received a yellow card. Onyeka was then brought down by former Bristol City midfielder Taylor Gardner-Hickman, but the Sky Blues couldn’t capitalise.

Instead, Blackburn scored from the same phase, with a quick counterattack ending when Morishita fired home, leaving Rushworth wrong-footed and opening the scoring for the hosts.

Frank Lampard responded by making a triple change to his Coventry side, which saw Haji Wright, Romain Esse and Victor Torp replace Onyeka, Latibeaudiere and Ellis Simms. Gardner-Hickman was shown a yellow card minutes later for a late challenge on Torp, with Morishita also picking up a booking in the process.

The visitors somehow didn’t equalise in the 69th minute, when Rudoni’s header struck the post before rolling across the face of the goal without anyone getting the all-important touch. Rudoni was then withdrawn in favour of Brandon Thomas-Asante as Lampard’s side continued to hunt for a leveller. Blackburn also made a change, with Ryan Hedges replacing Moussa Biradji for Rovers.

Mason-Clarke went close from distance with 15 minutes left on the clock, but his strike flew wide of the target. Gardner-Hickman was replaced by Adam Forshaw shortly after, with Rovers looking to see out the remainder of this game.

Blackburn’s keeper, Balázs Tóth, held on to the ball for too long in the 80th minute, which saw the referee award a corner to Coventry, which was then comfortably cleared by the Blackburn defence. The Sky Blues’ equaliser did come moments later, when Bobby Thomas headed home in front of 7,500 travelling fans who were sent into raptures as their side seemed to confirm their return to the top flight after a quarter of a century away.

Mason-Clarke’s night came to an end in the 90th minute, as he was withdrawn in favour of Coventry-born midfielder Josh Eccles. Promotion was confirmed for Frank Lampard’s side in the 95th minute, with the away end getting the party started and the players following suit with their celebrations on the pitch.