Two home wins in four days have put the Sky Blues firmly back on the rails in the Championship promotion race. With closest rivals Middlesbrough and Ipswich both winning twice in the last week it was vital that maximum points were gained. Going into this weekend’s games City have a six point lead at the top over ‘Boro and eight point lead over the Tractor Boys. City now cannot be knocked off top spot until Tuesday 3 February, at which point they will have been top for 122 days when Ipswich play their third game in 10 days, their rearranged away game at Portsmouth. Three wins for them and defeats at Norwich and QPR for the Sky Blues would see the men from East Anglia overtake City. As I’ve said before being the hunted rather than the hunter is a new experience for Coventry and the next few weeks is going to be a nail biting time for the fans.
Attendances at the CBS this season have been incredible and Saturday’s gate of 31,410 for the visit of Leicester was the second highest ever at the ground, just 42 short of the record set last season for the game with Middlesbrough. That took the average for the season to just over 30,000 - the first time City’s crowds have been at that level since 1969-70 season when the club finished sixth in the old First Division and qualified for Europe. The overall average that season was 32,043 and has never been topped. The average dipped slightly with the smaller than average crowd against Millwall on Tuesday but I expect several more ‘full houses’ between now and the end of the season to take the final average over the 30,000 mark. If that is the case it will be the first time in the club’s history that the club have averaged over 30,000 when not in the top flight. The top averages for seasons in the lower divisions are:
1966-67. Division 2. 28,269
2024-25 Championship. 27,817
1950-51 Division 2. 26,694
1964-65 Division 2. 26,621
1963-64 Division 3. 26,017
1937-38. Division 2. 25,825
2023-24. Championship. 25,468
1965-66. Division 2. 25,370
Thankfully Haji Wright is back scoring goals with two goals in two games this last week taking his total for the season to ten league goals. It was also his fourth goal against Millwall this season when you include his penalty at the New Den in the League Cup. Wright joins Brandon Thomas-Asante and Ellis Simms on 10 league goals. This is the first time that three Coventry players have hit double figures in league games since 2013-14 when Leon Clarke (15), Callum Wilson (21) and Franck Moussa (11) were on fire. In addition that season Carl Baker scored 10 goals in all competitions. The club record is for five players to score double figures which happened in 1963-64. The famous five then were:
George Hudson 28
Ken Hale 17
Ronnie Rees 15
Ronnie Farmer 11
Willie Humphries 11
Victor Torp is currently on seven goals and Ephron Mason-Clark on six. It’s not impossible that we might have five in double figures come the end of the season and challenge that 62-year-old record.
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