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Football

Coventry City

vs Sunderland. Sky Bet Championship.

3: 00pm, Saturday 15th March 2025.

The Coventry Building Society Arena Attendance: Attendance30, 219.

Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Coventry City and Sunderland at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday; Haji Wright scores a hat-trick as Frank Lampard's Sky Blues get their promotion push back on track Saturday 15 March 2025 18: 39, UK Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Haji Wright scored a hat-trick as Coventry moved back into the play-off places with a 3-0 victory over fourth-placed Sunderland at the CBS Arena. The USA international last scored in the Sky Blues' trip to Sunderland on November 9 but he also sustained an ankle injury in the same game that meant he spent almost four months on the sidelines. Frank Lampard's side had dropped out of the top six after a disappointing defeat to relegation-threatened Derby in midweek coupled with Bristol City's 2-1 win over Norwich on Friday night. Despite missing a considerable part of the season, Wright started the day as Coventry's top scorer with seven, and he put Coventry ahead with his first goal in over 120 days. Wright received Victor Torp's pass and cut inside Luke O'Nien before drilling a low left-footed strike beyond goalkeeper Anthony Patterson from outside the box. The American then won and converted the penalty that doubled Coventry's lead. Wales international Chris Mepham stuck out a leg to send Wright sprawling to the turf before he dusted himself down and calmly slotted in the resulting spot-kick. The 26-year-old was almost in for his hat-trick when Jamie Allen's pass was cut out at the last second.

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Defender Bobby Thomas had scored three goals in his previous six outings and could have added to his tally when he headed wide from Torp's pinpoint free-kick. Tempers flared after half-time when Chris Rigg's tackle on Tatsuhiro Sakamoto earned him a yellow card. Coventry had struggled to put games to bed in a run which had seen them win nine of their 11 league games, and Sunderland had Patterson to thank when he got down low to keep out Thomas's firm header. But Wright was not to be denied his first hat-trick in English football as he latched onto Torp's pass once again before lifting a superb effort over Patterson. Sunderland had won two and drawn one of their previous three games following back-to-back defeats to Leeds and Hull in February, but they barely laid a glove on Coventry to extend a run of not winning away at the Sky Blues to over 40 years. Eliezer Mayenda looked the most lively for the Black Cats, exchanging a quick one-two with Romaine Mundle before his tame effort was gathered by Oliver Dovin. The Spaniard then broke free of the Coventry defence but dragged his effort wide of the far post. Sunderland introduced top scorer Wilson Isidor as they went in search of a consolation, but he volleyed an effort wide as the Black Cats mustered just one shot on target. sss Coventry's Frank Lampard: "Three goals, a constant problem, great quality finishing and great movement. He won headers and went physically toe-to-toe with defenders and his work ethic off the ball was great. "I haven't worked with him properly and he's had two sub appearances before the Derby start, which was a really tough game for him, but today was Haji in matchwinning form and great to see. "He doesn't say so much, but that's him. He's laid back and a really nice lad. He comes to work and does everything you want and he's enjoyable to work with. My players don't need to say too much. Some do and some don't. "Haji has a laid back way, which is his nature, but he wasn't laid back on the pitch today. And I have to say the way he moved and the way he won the penalty was high-level stuff from him. "As long as he gets his off-the-ball work and transition work right, which he did today, I'm happy. He can play like that, he can run into space, he can hold it up and he can move with it, so yes, I loved his performance. " Sunderland's Regis Le Bris: "It wasn't the best version of us this afternoon and Coventry played well, they played good football. They were incisive, they were intense and we were not able to maintain the level to defend properly. "Even if the shape was OK our intensity in duels and the second balls were far from the level expected and with the ball we were sloppy because it wasn't possible to keep the ball against the pressure. "It's difficult to find one reason to explain the whole behaviour of the team. I think we'll have many different explanations and one of them is probably after the game at Leeds we broke our dynamic a little bit and probably our way of thinking about the automatic promotion and we played well but we didn't get any points. "Today we looked exhausted on the pitch and I think without the energy to be competitive. "I think after the first half we could have changed 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 players but that wasn't possible. At least we could expect a reaction. That wasn't really the case, we created one or two chances but it wasn't the team reaction it was more about individuals and after that we tried different options but it was a collective failure today. " The £250, 000 is up for grabs with Super 6, and as always it is completely free to play. Entries by 3pm Saturday.

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