Coventry City had to work far harder than in recent weeks, but eventually overpowered Blackburn Rovers 2-0 at home, with second-half volleys from Victor Torp and Brandon Thomas-Asante restoring Frank Lampard's side to the top of the Championship. Lampard's men had started the weekend at the summit but slipped to second after Middlesbrough's victory over Ipswich on Friday night, and they responded by grinding out a win that owed more to resilience and moments of quality than to the free-flowing dominance of their recent outings.
Having racked up 12 unanswered goals in their previous three outings, Coventry found themselves unusually disjointed before the break as Valerien Ismael's men pressed high in a new back-three system and created the better chances. Yet once Torp, back in the starting line-up after injury, lashed home from the edge of the box and Thomas-Asante picked out the bottom corner with the outside of his foot, the hosts' class and cutting edge told, securing a fourth successive victory, a fifth straight clean sheet and a goal difference that now stands at +22. Coventry have now scored 29 goals in their opening 10 league games, 14 of them in the last four fixtures, setting a new club record that had stood for 90 years. Blackburn, beaten for the third time in four games since their abandoned match against Ipswich Town was ordered to be replayed, slipped into the relegation zone after Oxford United's win over Derby County earlier in the day.
Blackburn's Bold Press Stifles Free-Scoring Hosts
Coventry came into the match on the back of a 4-0 demolition of Millwall and a 5-0 rout of Sheffield Wednesday, but any expectation of another procession was quickly dispelled. Ismael abandoned his usual shape and deployed a back three for the first time this season, instructing his players to go man-for-man all over the pitch and press on the front foot. Lampard acknowledged afterwards that Blackburn's "aggressive organisation" made it difficult for the Sky Blues to establish their usual control and territory in the opening 45 minutes.