Key events
32 min: Fantastic one-touch passing from Coventry – especially exceptional from Sakamoto – but Rudoni’s final cross to Van Ewijk is headed away.
29 min: Wright and Hume exchange some words after the Sunderland right-back fouled and pushed the winger in the chest. The referee has a word with them both but no cards given.
27 min: Wow! Coventry are now on the front foot again. Mayenda looks for a soft foul after getting the ball knicked off him but the referee is not interested. Wright cuts it back for Sheaf whose shot is blocked before Wright was flagged for offside as he tried to poke the ball in. A lot of bodies in the box there with Ballard throwing his body down, putting everything into trying to block a shot.
23 min: Sunderland chance! Mayenda shows great persistence from the halfway line despite little support and a blur of blue shirts. He gets a shot away from about 25 yards despite pressure from Kitching but it is wide.
21 min: Our first booking of the match goes to Cirkin who flies in against Sakamoto; doesn’t get anywhere near the ball. Can Coventry get this free-kick from the right right? It is a great ball in but Neil heads away.
Coventry’s resulting free-throw breaks kindle to Sheaf, who isn’t being marked, but he absolutely shanks his shot.
17 min: Coventry dominating possession with 73% but so far still at arms length. Sakamto with a great fake and turn near the halfway line before laying it off to Rudoni but Sunderland clear the next pass.
15 min: Great movement from Thomas-Asante. He splits between the two centre-halves and even though he can’t sort out his first touch, both Sunderland defenders are caught ball watching.
12 min: Coventry enjoy some possession at the back before Thomas hits it long for Wright but the forward fails to control. The resulting throw-in goes long into the box but Patterson makes the right decision this time and comes out to catch the ball.
9 min: Bellingham uses his quick feet to skip through a few challenges and wins a free-kick at the halfway line. Le Fee overhits the dead ball but Hume loses his marker and stretches to get a connection on it. He is unable to cross it in the box though.
5 min: Coventry get forward but Rudoni fails to get a shot away inside the penalty area. Sunderland on the backfoot early on here.
3 min: Coventry win three early successive corners. The second, taken by Rudoni, is a poor ball in and is headed out by Bellingham.
The third is dangerous for the visitors. Patterson comes off his line but weakly flaps at the ball. He is nowhere near it and he gets caught in a tangle of bodies. Wright could have had a tap-in but Sunderland get lucky.
Kick-off: Coventry 0-0 Sunderland
Here we go! Sunderland get us underway in classic red and white while Coventry don sky blue.
The teams come out from the tunnel at the Coventry Building Society Arena and both sets of fans are in full voice. We are minutes away now from the first leg of this semi-final.
Lampard speaks to Sky Sports before kick-off
We’re happy to be here and a great feeling to get here last week but you start again now for two really tough matches against a team who finished above us in the table. So we prepared for the game, we have our home fans behind us and lets try to perform well.
And another one – Peter with some rhyming words before kick-off:
Sunderland have a manager named Le Bris and a player called Le Fee? Shall I open a Pinot Gris? Pair it with a Brie? Bon appétit!
Very fancy for the Championship indeed!
Fans of both teams are being interviewed on Sky Sports with a mixed bag of views – some are confident, some are tentative.
Let’s see what my pre-match postbag is saying:
Jeremy writes:
Smug Leeds fan here, re-living the 24 play-offs we had to go through and still lost. Seems to me this is a foregone conclusion. The Black Cats are coming into it with lead boots, heads full of “what might haves” and nervous eyes over their shoulders, whereas Frank’s boys are on a roll, they have momentum and the eye of the tiger gleaming, their prey in clear view. Can Coventry spring a surprise, and then another one and become the new Luton? It’s a funny old game, football …
And Allen says:
I really love the difference between Le Bris and Lampard – it is so fascinating. One had a modest playing career before working his way through the coaching ranks at Lorient, while the other is a much-decorated former England international who has had management experience at Derby, Chelsea and Everton. I am, of course, a Sky Blue for life so hoping the bigger name gets the job done today.
Regis Le Bris said he told his young team the time has come to stand up and be counted on. The French head coach wants more and has challenged a squad which includes the teenagers Jobe Bellingham and Chris Rigg to rise to the challenge.
It’s expected. They have this potential because they showed so many qualities this season. Now it’s time to deliver – and I think they expect this.
They are excited, ready to go and at the same time, with just the small dose of doubt, which is really useful to be competitive.
I just want to improve and develop the squad, to help the club grow and to grow me as a manager. At the end of the season, I will be a better coach than when I started here.
Frank Lampard has admitted he had no expectation of guiding Coventry to the Championship play-offs when he took the job in November.
We were 17th for a reason. This club’s had some really good success in moving up the leagues in recent years, reaching the play-off final [in 2023], the FA Cup semi-finals [last season]. So there’s great credit but this season we were not where we want to be.
We were probably in a relegation fight at that point. So I didn’t expect it at all. But at the same I came in, I wanted to be confident in the squad. I wanted to make us better. And at that point it was how much better? How many steps can we take?
The rest is down to a lot of people in the building. First of all the players, you can’t do anything without the players, but also the desire and passion of the ownership and everybody who works here at the training ground, and the fans who have really gone with us.
Here is Michael Butler’s verdict from about three months ago on how Lampard silenced doubters by leading his resurgent side with the most productive midfield in the division.
Manchester United’s Amad Diallo is rooting for his former club Sunderland tonight. He wrote on X: “I want to wish Good luck to Sunderland for the semis.”
The 22-year-old was on loan at Sunderland during the 2022–23 season where he played 42 matches in all competitions.
Here are some of Opta’s pre-match stats:
-
Sunderland are winless across each of their last 13 away games against Coventry in all competitions (D5 L8), since a 1-0 victory at Highfield Road in the top-flight in April 1985, while they’ve failed to score in three of their last four visits.
-
Coventry have won seven of their last eight home league games (L1), including a 3-0 win over Sunderland. Since Frank Lampard’s first game in charge of the club in late November, only Leeds United and Bristol City (both 36) have picked up more points at home in the Championship than the Sky Blues (35).
-
Coventry have previously featured in the EFL play-offs twice, in 2017-18 in League Two and 2022-23 in the Championship. Across their six matches in total, the Sky Blues remain unbeaten (W3 D3), failing to earn promotion to the Premier League in the 2022-23 Championship play-off final on penalties against Luton Town.
-
This will be the ninth time that Sunderland have ended the season in the EFL play-offs, doing so in four of their last five league campaigns. Across their prior eight semi-final ties, the Black Cats have won just one of their eight away legs (D2 L5), a 2-0 victory over Newcastle United in 1989-90.
How do things stand in the other semi-final, you ask? Well, last night Sheffield United took a huge step towards Wembley with a 3-0 win at Bristol City last night.
Ben Fisher was at Ashton Gate where he reported:
United arrived into this tie with a wretched record, too, having failed to prevail in any of their previous nine playoff campaigns. Wilder was on the books of the Blades when their hoodoo began in a relegation playoff defeat against City in 1987-88. “I don’t think half of our players were born,” Wilder said, smiling.
United saw an early goal dubiously disallowed for offside against Sydie Peck, after Tyrese Campbell thought he had opened the scoring having latched on to Kieffer Moore’s flick from the captain Jack Robinson’s long throw. United’s players had begun celebrating in their numbers when the assistant referee raised his flag on the far side. One away supporter was ejected for letting off a flare, his evening in the West Country over inside a dozen minutes.
United had a couple more chances before taking the lead from the spot approaching the interval, Campbell and Moore both fluffing their lines.
Louise Taylor’s preview looks at the history between these two sides and how they have evolved under Lampard and Le Bris respectively.
Although they have been in a form of limbo since sealing a playoff place in early April, a significant improvement will be required if Sunderland are to overcome a Coventry side reborn under Frank Lampard’s management in Friday night’s semi-final first leg in the Midlands.
When Lampard succeeded Mark Robins in November they were 17th; now Wembley and, potentially, the Premier League beckon. Two years ago, a Coventry team featuring Sweden’s Viktor Gyökeres in attack fell at the last, losing the playoff final to Luton on penalties. Now Sunderland must contend with one of the game’s rising stars in Jack Rudoni.
Team news
Coventry XI (4-2-3-1): Wilson; Van Ewijk, Thomas, Kitching, Dasilva; Sheaf, Grimes; Sakamoto, Rudoni, Wright; Thomas-Asante
Subs: Collins, Latibeaudiere, Binks, Paterson, Allen, Mason-Clark, Simms, Eccles, Bidwell
Sunderland XI (4-2-3-1): Patterson; Hume, Ballard, O’Nien, Cirkin; Bellingham, Neil; Roberts, Le Fee, Mayenda; Isidor
Subs: Moore, Browne, Rigg, Samed, Seelt, Mepham, Hjelde, Watson, Jones
Referee: John Busby
Preamble
Hello and welcome to that time of the year again: the Championship playoffs. Tonight is the first leg of the second semi-final with Coventry hosting Sunderland at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
The two teams finished fifth and fourth in the table respectively and while Sunderland may have been seven points clear of Coventry, it is Frank Lampard’s side who will going in to this tie in better form. Régis Le Bris will hope to guide his side back to the Premier League for the first time since 2017 but they have not recorded a win since early April.
So much on the line. Join me for team news and buildup before the 8pm BST kick-off. And, as always, feel free to send me an email with your thoughts, questions, predictions, complaints and pre-playoff rituals. I want to hear it all!
