Coventry City enjoyed a generous helping of luck as they recorded their first Championship away win of the season, and only second time they’d picked up the full three points this term with a comprehensive victory at Queens Park Rangers. The result, however, comes as a welcome boost for the Sky Blues and their supporters after a stuttering start to 2023/24.
Coming as City’s first success after six winless attempts, it injected a bit of confidence back into the camp ahead of two tough but certainly winnable home games back at the Coventry Building Society Arena, starting with Blackburn Rovers – the division’s joint leakiest defence – on Wednesday night, and followed by an inconsistent Norwich City at the weekend.
Saturday’s 3-1 verdict at Loftus Road saw Mark Robins’ men show a ruthless streak with three goals in the space of 12 devastating minutes for the hosts, proving to the 2,750-strong Sky Blue Army that they can find that all-important second, and, in this case, third goal that has been so hard to find to secure the points rather than hanging on to a fragile lead and conceding late on. Here Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner picks out the winners and losers of what will hopefully be a turning point in City’s season.
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Winners
Jamie Allen
The versatile midfielder made his first start of the season after missing the entire pre-season programme following a summer heart scare that left him hospitalised and understandably concerned about his well being and career. But the 28-year-old has steadily rebuilt his fitness and, after making two cameo showings from the bench, was ready to take a huge step forward to signal that his comeback is complete. And what a way to do it! Providing his trademark energy and non-stop running, Allen was hugely influential on the day. City have missed his work-rate and attention to tactical detail at a time when the midfield has been a problem area as the team strive to adapt to life without Gustravo Hamer – a situation compounded by the injury to Ben Sheaf.
Ellis Simms
Although City’ summer signing from Everton scored braces on two occasions in pre-season to show he certainly knows where the back of the net is, it took him nine long games to open his competitive account for the Sky Blues, again scoring twice in the same game for the third time since joining the club. It can’t be underestimated what that will have done for his confidence, which was clearly low amid his frustrating start to the season. The striker missed three earlier chances at Loftus Road but, as he showed in his previous outing against Huddersfield when he made the opening goal of the game, he has ability and talent in abundance. It’s just a case of the 22-year-old now building on that, continuing to develop under the expert tuition of Adi Viveash and fulfilling his huge potential.
Ben Wilson
Some fans were beginning to wonder if the time had come to make a change in such a key position in the team. With summer signing Brad Collins patiently waiting in the wings amid indifferent results, it could easily have been a decision Mark Robins could have been pondering. However, the goalkeeper underlined just why he’s first choice when he pulled off a brilliant 17th minute save to deny Lyndon Dykes what looked to be an almost certain lead. The look on the Hoops’ striker’s face said it all. Wilson followed that up with a second impressive stop after the break, albeit when City were well in control, and that will have done him the world of good. There was one blip to his performance when he fell on the right side of luck when he got away with what QPR boss Gareth Ainsworth claimed was a “stonewall” penalty when he tripped Sinclair Armstrong on the edge of the box. But overall, his position appears pretty safe for the time being.
Mark Robins
Although the City boss has plenty of credit in the bank from his hugely successful last six years in charge, there will always be grumblings among some supporters when things don’t always go as they expect. Robins was at pains to explain to fans in his pre-match press briefing that patience is needed, as is their backing, to get through a testing period of transition following such a significant turnover in personnel, including what he feels were the two best players in the division in Hamer and Gyokeres last season. And wonderful away displays and results like Saturday’s go a long way to restore supporters’ belief and confidence that City have the talent in their ranks but it just needs time for the team to kick on and become the force it’s intended to be.
Losers
Gareth Ainsworth
QPR have a dreadful home record at Loftus Road where they have one pitiful win in 20 games dating back almost 12 months to November last year. Gareth Ainsworth took charge in February and has managed just one victory in front of his home fans in 12 attempts to leave his position under pressure. He admitted in his post-match press conference his “haters” would love the result and would not be interested in his complaints about feeling hard done to by the match officials whom, he felt, failed to cancel out Ellis Simms’ first goal for off-side and then failed to give what looked like a good shout for a penalty. Rangers dropped into the bottom three at the weekend and that in itself will see the pressure ramp up on the former Wycombe boss who has a woeful record whenever he’s gone head to head with Mark Robins. The Sky Blue Army, meanwhile, rubbed salt in the wounds by singing, "You're getting sacked in the morning," after City had taken their 3-0 lead.
Jake Clarke-Salter
The former Sky Blues loan star isn’t even first pick at QPR – the club he chose to join ahead of Coventry in the summer before last following his impressive season-long stay at the CBS Arena. He got on the pitch early in the game on Saturday but only after Morgan Fox limped off injured, and one wonders whether he ever thinks what might have been if he’d signed for City instead.
His campaign was blighted by injury in his first season with the West London club, for whom he’s only played 19 times over the last 14 months, playing 16 times last term and making just three appearances so far this.
