The Sky Blues bounced back from a three-game winless run with a comprehensive 3-1 victory over league leaders Middlesbrough in front of almost 31,000 on Monday night. The 'Boro' must be fed up with playing the Sky Blues – it was their seventh defeat in a row versus City stretching back to 2023. That run started with the second leg of the Championship play-off semi final that year when Gus Hamer's goal secured a Wembley trip in one of the Sky Blues' finest away performances of recent years.
The seven wins are:
May 2023 Boro 0 City 1 (Hamer)
Aug 2023 City 3 Boro 0 (Godden, Wright, own goal)
Jan 2024 Boro 1 City 3 (Sakamoto 2, Wright)
Nov 2024 Boro 0 City 3 (Thomas, Wright, Eccles)
May 2025 City 2 Boro 0 (Rudoni 2)
Nov 2025 Boro 2 City 4 (Simms 2, Kitching 2)
Feb 2026 City 3 Boro 1 (Wright 3)
Prior to that famous night at the Riverside in 2023 City had drawn three successive meetings between the clubs so it is 10 games unbeaten against the Teessiders. There has certainly been a massive turnaround in results with Boro because before that Hamer winner City had failed to win in 13 league and cup visits to the new stadium since it was opened in 1995.
The star of the show on Monday night was Haji Wright who scored his second Sky Blue hat-trick and made it six goals in five games against Boro. The American striker has now scored 45 goals for the club, 41 in the league plus 4 cup goals. The 41 league goals takes him into the top ten post 1967 scoring list.
Games Goals Minutes/goal
1. Dion Dublin 168+2 subs 61 208
2. Gary McSheffrey 201+46 61 261
3. Ian Wallace 128+2 58 196
4. Mick Ferguson 128+6 55 203
5. Cyrille Regis 231+6 47 435
6. Matty Godden 102+36 46 200
7. Ernie Hunt 140+6 45 280
8. Terry Gibson 97+1 43 198
9. Haji Wright 76+25 41 171
10. Viktor Gyokeres 92+18 41 208
(league games and goals only)
Haji has had his detractors in the three years he has been at the club but his scoring record is second to none. Amongst Coventry strikers who have scored 30 or more league goals he is the only one to score a goal every other game in the last 60 years. Haji went 13 league games without scoring between October and January this season but many forget that Gyokeres had an identical run in 2021-22 after scoring nine in the first 11 games. Godden also had his arid scoring runs as did many of the above list.
This season Wright has overtaken several legendary Coventry strikers in the list including Bobby Gould, Neil Martin, Peter Ndlovu and Garry Thompson. Let's hope Haji can continue his form for the remainder of this season.
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