Coventry reclaimed their spot at the top of the Sky Bet Championship with a 2-0 victory over Blackburn.
Frank Lampard’s men had slipped to second in the table after Middlesbrough’s victory over Ipswich on Friday night, but goals from Victor Torp and Brandon Thomas-Asante took the Sky Blues back to the summit.
The hosts had scored 12 goals without reply in their previous three outings, including the 5-0 drubbing of Sheffield Wednesday before the international break, which followed a 4-0 thumping of Millwall at the Den.
Rovers boss Valerien Ismael opted for a back three for the first time this season, which left Coventry frustrated throughout the first half.
Scott Wharton returned to the side after three games without a win, while Yuki Ohashi and Axel Hendriksson also started.
The sluggish Sky Blues looked completely out of sorts as they repeatedly gave the ball away, coming under waves of pressure from a Rovers side who only have two wins to their name this season.
Coventry had welcomed back talismanic midfielder Torp in their only change after he remained an unused substitute for the trip to Sheffield Wednesday following injury.
The Danish midfielder lashed home a volley from the edge of the box after Ephron Mason-Clark’s cross was headed away by Sean McLoughlin.
The Sky Blues’ second was almost a carbon copy of the first, but this time it was Thomas-Asante who fired his volley into the bottom corner after Mason-Clark’s cross had only been cleared to the edge of the box.
The energetic winger could have opened the scoring himself earlier in the game when he forced Balazs Toth into a fine save.
Torp’s dangerous free-kick across goal was also glanced wide by Thomas-Asante at 0-0.
From then on in the first half it was all Rovers. Jay Dasilva’s error allowed Ryan Alebiosu to charge towards the byline and fire across goal for Andri Gudjohnsen to stab an effort wide.
Milan van Ewijk, known so well for his forward forays down the right, had to show his defensive capabilities when he headed Ohashi’s effort over the crossbar.
Carl Rushworth had not conceded for over 400 minutes in the Coventry goal and was at his very best to save from Hendriksson’s point-blank effort.
Rushworth looked less convincing when he could not collect a corner, but McLoughlin could only head into the side-netting.
Liam Kitching should have put the icing on the cake when he headed over from inside the six-yard box, but Rovers rarely threatened in the second half as the Sky Blues reclaimed their place at the top of the league in style.
The managers
Coventry’s Frank Lampard:
“I think it was all credit to Blackburn in the first half. They came here with an aggressive organisation about them and were happy to be man-for-man pretty much all over the pitch.
“They made it difficult for us to get our usual kind of clean build and to try and get control and territory and stuff, so I credit them.
“We made a bit of a tactical tweak at half-time to help the players and it did help, and I think it’s important also for our players to not expect that every game we’ll have all the possession and win by three, four or five because it doesn’t happen in football.
“It was a good test for all of us, and even the fans, to understand that it’s not always easy. Stick with us, it was very good to not be at your best and then to go and score two big goals.
“Sometimes you rely on your players to do things like that, and Carl Rushworth to make a great save in the first half.
“I thought we actually saw the game out pretty comfortably, so lots of things to be happy with in a really tough match.”
Blackburn’s Valerien Ismael:
“We were on the front foot, aggressive, high press. We did well, we created a lot of chances to score.
“It’s frustrating because the performance was right – good effort, great mentality, adaptable, flexible. We changed the shape, so it’s the story of the season so far that game.
“The performance is always right, we should have more from the game and at the end we end up losing.
“I think the first goal is avoidable. It’s a free-kick so they played quick, instead of us standing in front of the ball to slow down the process.
“We were not aware for one second and we got punished straight away. The second goal came too quick, to give you that feeling first to deal with the shock to be 2-0 down from nothing and to try to come back into the game.
“To concede the goal within two minutes and to lose the game like that is relentless and how football can be, but we take the positivity from the game and we go again.”
