Kitching sets centre-back record in massive win at Riverside

Another Sky Blues victory (the 10th in 11 games) at Middlesbrough increased their lead at the top of the Championship to 10 points. I’m told that this is the biggest margin since the Championship came into being over 20 years ago. It is an amazing position to be in and, of course, all the pundits are now tipping us for automatic promotion to the Premiership.

Frank Lampard’s team are just relentless and seem able to up their game at will. Two goals down to West Brom - the team didn’t let their heads drop but turned up the heat and score three. Unlike many, I don’t believe it would have been any different if Jayson Molumby had stayed on the pitch. It might have taken a bit longer but the Sky Blues would have won. Then, at the Riverside on Tuesday night, they let a two-goal lead slip, almost conceded a third to Tommy Conway but readjusted with Jamie Allen and Jack Rudoni regaining control of midfield, and killed Boro with two late goals. Poor old Adie looked positively shell-shocked in his post-match interview but was very gracious in defeat.

The team also seem able currently to ride through injuries. When Rudoni was injured at the back end of September City fans were in despair but it opened the door for Brandon Thomas-Asante who grabbed his chance and scored eight goals in the next seven and Jack was barely missed. Haji Wright returned from international duty with an injury and suddenly there was an opportunity for Ellis Simms who has been patient as well as scoring two off the bench. Ellis has looked like a man possessed in the last two games and scored three goals, including a serious contender for goal of the season on Tuesday.

It was only in the early part of this year that the team put that amazing run of nine league wins out of 10 together . Now eight months later they’ve bettered that with 10 wins out of 11, setting a new club record. There is only one word to describe this current run - phenomenal.

The most unlikely scorer at Middlesbrough was Liam Kitching who netted twice in the 4-2 win. His first was a powerful header from a brilliant volleyed cross from Matt Grimes but he seemed to know little about his second when the ball rebounded from the goalkeeper’s boot from a vicious shot by Bobby Thomas and hit him and went in. For the second game running Thomas was lurking out to the right of the goal following a set-piece and provided a goal chance with a towering header from a Grimes chip. Liam is the first City central defender to score two goals in a league game since Reda Johnson in 2014. Reda did it on his debut, a 2-3 loss at Bradford City on the opening day of the season of 2014-15. James Hanson put the Bantams ahead before Reda headed an equaliser just before half-time. An Alan Sheehan penalty put Bradford ahead before Johnson appeared to have secured a point in the 89th minute with a scrambled effort but Hanson headed an added-time winner for Phil Parkinson’s team.

There was another instance in an EFL Trophy game in August 2016. In front of 2,091 fans the Sky Blues beat West Ham’s under 21 team 4-2 and City centre-back Jordan Turnbull scored two of the goals. Ruben Lameiras and Jordan Willis scored the other goals against a West Ham side featuring 17-year-old Declan Rice.

Table-topping Sky Blues set more records

The Sky Blues extended their lead at the top of the Championship to five points with an excellent win at Stoke last Saturday. In a game of few chances it took a sublime goal from Ephron Mason-Clarke to separate the teams first and second in the table at the start of play. The victory made it a remarkable eight wins out of nine since mid September.

The team have now topped the Championship table since the 4^th October and, whatever the results in the next two games, they will still be top until at least 25^th November. That's 53 consecutive days in first place and the best achievement by a Coventry City side since the 1966-67 Division Two promotion season. Then, Jimmy Hill's team went top of the table on 7^th January following a 1-1 draw at Birmingham's St Andrews and stayed top until Easter Monday, the 27^th March, when, with City not playing, Wolves slipped ahead of the Sky Blues on goal average (before goal difference came into being) with a win at Huddersfield. That was a total of 81 days in first place. The club record for days at the top was set in the 1963-64 Division Three promotion season when the team were top for 157 days. A 2-1 home win over Bristol City on 8^th October 1963 sent the Sky Blues top and they remained there until 14^th March 1964 when after a shocking 5-2 home defeat to Southend on the previous night, City were overtaken by Crystal Palace. The Sky Blues had held a nine point lead (14 points under the three points for a win) at the top on 3^rd January but an eleven-game run without a win saw the chasing pack catch them. In a fraught end to the season City managed to put together a run of eight games with only one defeat to snatch the title on the final day of the season.

Rich Overson posed an interesting question after the Stoke victory: When were City last in the top six and defeated another top six side away from home (excluding play-off wins). After quite a bit of research I discovered it was back in January 1993 in the Premiership. City, under Bobby Gould and with Micky Quinn scoring for fun, were flying high and travelled to Blackburn for a midweek game in sixth place. Rovers were in fourth position and a 3-0 win or better would see them overtake Manchester United at the top. The Sky Blues upset the form book as well as BBC Radio 5 whose reporters had come to celebrate Blackburn going top, by inflicting a 5-2 defeat on Kenny Dalglish's Rovers. Mike Newell gave Rovers an early lead which was cancelled out by a David May own goal. Lee Hurst gave City a lead just before half-time and John Williams made it 3-1 soon after the break. Colin Hendry pulled one back on 71 minutes and for a while City were hanging on for dear life before Quinn scored twice in the final five minutes to seal the points.

Prior to that win in 1993 there had been away wins at Nottingham Forest in 1990 (4-2) and Norwich City in 1989 (2-1) when both City and their opponents were top six teams. The latter being the week after City's ignominious FA Cup defeat to Sutton United.

Fortress CBS

The Sky Blues bounced back from the defeat at Wrexham last weekend to record another home victory, 3-1 over Sheffield United on Tuesday night. The CBS Arena has certainly become a fortress for the team, especially since Frank Lampard took charge last November. Only two regular season league games have been lost in the last 23 and those were to last season's promoted clubs, Leeds United and Burnley. History tells us that strong home form is the key to successful promotion campaigns:

1935-36 Division 3S champions Played 21. 19 wins, 1 draw, 1 defeat.

1958-59 Division 4 runners up Played 23. 18 wins, 4 draws, 1 defeat.

1963-64 Division 3 champions Played 23. 14 wins, 7 draws, 2 defeats.

1966-67 Division 2 champions Played 21. 17 wins, 3 draws, 1 defeat.

2019-20 League 1 champions Played 17. 11 wins, 5 draws, 1 defeat.

With 16 home games remaining this season a continuation of the home form would probably guarantee a play-off position even if the team lost all its away games. The outstanding start to the season puts the Sky Blues in a very strong position for an automatic promotion spot. However there is a long way to go and I remind readers that despite a 15-game unbeaten start in 1937-38 the team failed to get promotion after a mediocre second half of the season. Similarly, in 1950-51, City were top of Division Two on New Year's Day but faded and finished seventh.

The goals continue to flow for the team and after 14 games they have scored 39 – the highest in all four English leagues. Readers are asking 'what is the club record for goals scored?' 

The answer is 108 in 1931-32 – the season that the legendary Clarrie Bourton rose to prominence and netted 49 league goals as City finished 12^th in Division Three South. They scored 106 the following season (finishing sixth), 100 in 1933-34 (runners up). In 1934-35 they finished third but only scored 86 goals. Promotion finally arrived in 1935-36 as the Bantams scored 102 goals. Since then the best season has been in the 1963-64 Division Three championship season when 98 goals went into the opposition's net. 

It is interesting to note that in the record breaking 1931-32 season City had scored 32 goals after 14 games whilst the current team has 39 to its credit.

Last week's trip to Wrexham was City's first league visit to the Racecourse Ground since 1963-64 when Jimmy Hill's side drew 1-1 on the way to winning promotion from Division Three. It was only the fifth league visit in 100 seasons of league football. City had the rare occurrence of conceding a hat-trick with Wrexham's expensive striker Kieffer Moore becoming only the third player to score three or more against City in a league game in the last eight seasons (Portsmouth's Callum Lang and Hull's Oscar Estupinan are the others). A lot of fans thought Moore had an excellent scoring record against the Sky Blues but in fact he had only managed three in seven games before last week, two for Cardiff in 2020-21 and one for Ipswich in 2023-24.

Sky Blues in Dreamland

Coventry City’s incredible season just gets better and better and two wins in the last week cemented the Sky Blues at the top of the Championship table. The comprehensive 2-1 win at Portsmouth extended the unbeaten start to 11 games - a run only bettered by the club once, in 1937-38 when the run lasted 15 games. This season’s start has now bettered the 10-game start to the 2019-20 season when, of course, the Sky Blues, playing at St.Andrews won promotion from League One. With seven wins and four draws this start is currently slightly better than 1937 when there were six wins and five draws. 

What a difference it's been from the previous three seasons when the team had frustratingly slow starts:

2022-23 10 points from 11 games

2023-24 15 points from 11

2024-25 9 points from 11

Frank Lampard's exciting team currently have a fantastic launchpad for a successful season and we have to hope they can continue the excellent form. 

Carl Rushworth and the Sky Blues defence created another record this week when he kept his goal intact until the 96^th minute. It meant that he did not concede a goal for 613 minutes since the Norwich game on 13th September. Norwich striker Mathias Kvistgaarden scored in the 17th minute that day and since then the Brighton loan goalkeeper had five clean sheets plus the majority of Tuesday’s game at Portsmouth. Carl started the game at Fratton Park with the fifth longest run by a Coventry goalkeeper but as the game proceeded he overtook the runs of Les Sealey, Steve Ogrizovic, Reice Charles-Cook and on 80 minutes, Horace Pearson from the 1930s. A remarkable achievement by the young ‘keeper in only his 11th game for the club.

Defence has not been the only strong point this season as the goals total of 31 from 11 games demonstrates. The goals have been pouring in and it’s the club’s best 11 game start to a season even topping the early 1930s when City scored 100 goals in a season four years out of five. I can’t find a better 11-game start by any club in the Championship in the modern era although in 1919-20 Tottenham scored 36 goals in the first 11 games including nine in two games against City. Spurs went on to win the Division Two title that year with 102 goals and 70 points (102 in modern day). Haji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Asante head the division’s scoring charts with eight goals each and BTA and Viktor Torp have already eclipsed their goal tallies from last season. Will someone pinch me to wake me from this dream!

The unbeaten run continues

The Sky Blues extended their unbeaten run to eight games at Millwall on Wednesday night with a thrilling 4-0 victory, a win that took them to second place in the Championship. Thanks to some clinical finishing the goals are flying in and they have now scored 22 goals in eight league games. That equals the post-war club record set in 1963-64, the Third Division promotion season. The only season that betters that was in 1935-36, another promotion season, when after eight games Harry Storer's team had netted 26 goals. In 1963-64 Jimmy Hill's team had won six, drawn one and lost one game conceding just five goals (the same as the current team). It's interesting to compare the goalscorers in those seasons; in 1935-36 Clarrie Bourton had netted eight of the 26 and in 1963-64 George Hudson also had scored eight whilst this campaign has seen Haji Wright net seven.

Midweek away league games haven't been City's forte in recent seasons – last season they won only one of eight such games. I had to trawl through the records to find as big a win as Wednesday night's success and finally found that the last time City won of these games by a four-goal margin was back in 1958 at Aldershot. City had beaten the Shots 7-1 at home the previous week and Billy Frith's team took up where they had left off at Highfield Road and it was 4-0 at half-time with Jimmy Rogers scoring an 18 minute hat-trick and Mick Kearns with a penalty completing the scoring. City eased off in the second half and it ended 4-0.

Everyone is asking when we last went unbeaten in the first eight games of a season and it isn't that long ago. In 2019-20 Mark Robins' team remained unbeaten in their first ten league games and lost their record in that disastrous 0-4 loss at Rotherham. Strangely none of the four away games in that run were victories whereas this season Frank Lampard's team have already won twice on the road, scoring nine goals. 

We are still short of City's best unbeaten start to a season however. That happened in 1937 in the old Division Two. Following promotion in 1936 manager Harry Storer had consolidated in the higher division and with some shrewd buys had built a strong side with its foundations in defence. He had introduced a new kit that summer and it took fifteen games for the 'Bantams' to lose in the new kit. They started the season with a goal-less draw at Tottenham followed by two 1-0 home victories over Manchester United and Burnley. A point in the return at Old Trafford and a 2-0 victory at Bury put City into second place but another 1-0 home win over Stockport saw City go top of the table. The team's form was attracting the crowds and over 27,000 saw City draw 2-2 with Chesterfield and a week later Forest grabbed a point at Highfield Road. Any thought that bubble was about to be burst were dispelled with 2-1 victories at Newcastle and at home to Luton before a 3-3 draw at Swansea after leading 3-1 kept City on top. A 2-0 home win over Norwich saw Irish international winger Jackie Brown score his sixth goal of the season and a week later came City's greatest test, at Villa Park.

Villa were favourites for promotion and were in third place two points behind City. Over 67,000 including an estimated 20,000 Coventry fans packed into the ground and saw a thrilling game. Billy Macdonald gave City a first half lead but Eric Houghton levelled after the break and a draw was a fair result and extended City's run to 13 games. The first two Saturdays of November saw City record 0-0 draws, at home to Bradford Park Avenue and at West Ham, the latter game attracting a crowd of over 40,000 to Upton Park, one of the largest crowds at the east end stadium.

                               The 1937-38 squad that were unbeaten for the first 15 games

Seven days after the draw at West Ham City's fifteen-game run came to an end at Highfield Road when Sheffield Wednesday staged a smash and grab act with a 1-0 win. City were never out of the top four all season but two defeats in their final three games cost them promotion to Division One with Villa and Manchester United going up and City missing out by one point. Coventry fans would have to wait another 29 years before reaching the top flight.

Haji on fire

Haji Wright has started the season on fire with six goals, five of them in the league. These goals have taken him to 37 goals in total (33 league, 4 cup). His 33 league goals have come in 66 starts plus 20 sub appearances, a very impressive ratio and a better goals per minute ratio than Viktor Gyokeres. A major mid-season injury last season meant he missed 20-odd games and although he didn’t deliver in the play-off games he still managed 12 league goals in 21 + 6 games. On that ratio he would have won the Championship Golden Boot if he’d been fit all season. This is a big season for Wright with the World Cup in his home country next year and his current scoring form won’t have gone unnoticed by US coach Mauricio Pochettino. Haji’s 33 league goals take him past such Sky Blue legends as David Speedie, Kevin Gallacher & Darren Huckerby in the club’s all-time scoring list.

Wright has now scored six goals in five consecutive games and is the first City player to achieve that feat since Matty Godden in 2020. Godden scored in the last four league fixtures of the Covid-affected 2019-20 season and when the 2020-21 season commenced he netted in the first two league games (Bristol City away and QPR at home). Although he failed to score in the League Cup tie at MK Dons which preceded the Bristol game he did net in six league games. 

Callum Wilson scored in five successive games during his incredible 2013-14 season. Only one of his five games in March 2014 ended in victory and one was the infamous 2-4 defeat at Gillingham when four penalties were awarded with Akinfenwa scored two for the Gills and Callum and Carl Baker scored from the spot for City.

The club record for the most consecutive scoring games is held by Clarrie Bourton, who else? In his record breaking 1931-32 season he netted in 11 successive games (10 league, 1 FA Cup) and in total scored 20 goals including five in a 6-1 victory over Bournemouth. He went on to net 50 goals that season, 49 in Division Three (South) and 1 FA Cup. The following season he went close to breaking his own record netting in nine successive matches.

It was sad to hear of the death of former City and Liverpool striker Bobby Graham a couple of weeks ago. Bobby, who hailed from Motherwell in Scotland, came through the ranks at Liverpool and as an 19-year-old scored on his debut in a European Cup game against KR Reykjavik in 1964. Two weeks later he scored a hat-trick on his league debut in a 5-1 win over Aston Villa. He didn’t win a regular spot in the Reds team until 1969-70 when he was an ever present and scored 21 goals. A broken leg the following season hindered his progress and he struggled to get back to his previous heights. In March 1972 Coventry paid £70,000 and he became the last signing of the Cantwell era making his debut for the Sky Blues at Elland Road in what would be Noel’s last game in charge. Bobby was a mobile, quick striker who was a very good finisher but in a poor City side chances were few and far behind. During Bob Dennison’s 12-game caretaker manager period Graham played very game, scoring two goals, both at Highfield Road, in a 3-2 defeat to Manchester United and a 3-2 win over Sheffield United. The arrival of the Mercer/Milne management team that summer Bobby, after six games and a further goal, was deemed surplus to requirements with fellow Scot Colin Stein arriving and Brian Alderson being converted from a winger to a striker. A loan to Tranmere Rovers was followed by a permanent move to his home town club, Motherwell, in 1973 where he came back to haunt the Sky Blues in a Texaco Cup game, scoring the winning goal in a 3-2 second leg victory at Fir Park. Later Bobby played for Hamilton Academical and Queen of the South. RIP Bobby.

The Magnificent Seven

Last Saturday Coventry City celebrated the wonderful news that the club had purchased the CBS Arena with a stunning performance against Queens Park Rangers recording their biggest league win for 62 years. It was an emotional day that will remembered for a very long time and the announcement of the deal to buy the stadium from Frasers Group perfectly coincided with the 20^th anniversary of its opening. Hopefully it brings to an end of 20 or more years of uncertainty for the fans and finally enables the club to have total control of their destiny. 

You have to go back to October 1963 to find a bigger scoreline than Saturday, when Shrewsbury Town were put to the sword 8-1 at Highfield Road. The victory is the biggest since the club moved from Highfield Road in 2005 and also equalled the club's best ever for a Championship/Division 2 game. 7-1 was the score on Christmas Day 1922 when the Bantams beat Wolves 7-1 with goals from Bill Toms (3), Hugh Richmond (2), Joey Jones and Alan Wood. 

Since 1963 there have been two Cup games at Highfield Road that have bettered Saturday's scoreline, an 8-0 League Cup win over Rushden & Diamonds in 2002 and a 7-0 FA Cup victory over Macclesfield Town in 1999.

It was the first time that City have scored five in the first half of a league game. They did manage five in the first half of an FA Cup tie against non-league Bath City in 1929. In 1933 however they did manage seven goals in the second half in a 7-0 home win against QPR.

There are only ten Coventry City victories since 1919 with a higher score:

9-0 v Bristol City 1933-34

8-0 v Crystal Palace 1931-32

8-0 v Rushden & Diamonds (League Cup) 2002-03

8-1 v Crystal Palace 1935-36

8-1 v Shrewsbury 1963-64

7-0 v Rotherham 1925-26

7-0 v Aberdare Athletic 1926-27

7-0 v QPR 1932-33

7-0 v Scunthorpe United (FA Cup) 1934-35

7-0 v Macclesfield (FA Cup) 1998-99

(all at home except Aberdare)

The game also saw three players score a brace. Messrs Wright, Rudoni and Torp all bagged two goals – the first time this has happened since that Rushden game in 2002 when Gary McSheffrey (3), Lee Mills (2) and Jay Bothroyd (2) were on target. The last time in a league match was the Shrewsbury game in 1963 when Ronnie Rees (3) George Hudson (2) and Hugh Barr (2) netted. Before that there were five occasions in the golden period of the 1930s all involving Clarrie Bourton.

Saturday's famous victory came just seven days after the amazing 5-3 win at Derby's Pride Park. That was only the seventh time in 100 seasons of league football that that result has been recorded and only the second time achieved in an away game. In 1946-47 City won 5-3 at Millwall in a Second Division game with City coming from 3-1 down to take the points with goals from George Ashall (3), Harry Barratt and Ted Roberts. Other 5-3 wins include a Christmas Day 1959 thriller at Highfield Road with Ken Satchwell grabbing four goals and, the last time, a thumping of newly relegated Ipswich Town in 1964 watched by almost 38,000 with goals from George Kirby (2), Ken Hale (2) and George Hudson.

Five different players scored City's goals at Pride Park: Thomas, Wright, Thomas-Asante, Mason-Clark and Torp. That's quite a rare occurrence over the years but has now happened four times in the last ten years: Bury (2017) 6-0, Sunderland (2019) 5-4, Oxford (2024) 6-2 and Derby (2025) 5-3.

The Sky Blues have now scored twelve goals in successive games and that hasn't happened since September 1935, at the start of the Division Three promotion campaign. A 7-1 home win over Newport County (Bourton 3, Jones 2, Lauderdale 2) was followed two days later with a 5-0 home victory over Millwall (Jones 2, Bourton, Fitton and Turnbull (og)).

Lets hope the team can continue their scoring form at Oxford today.