Coventry City vs Luton Town. Sky Bet Championship.
The Coventry Building Society ArenaAttendance26,409.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Coventry City and Luton Town at the Coventry Building Society on Saturday; Ellis Simms, Viktor Torp and Haji Wright net as Sky Blues battle back for stunning win.
Saturday 26 October 2024 15:59, UK
Coventry completed a spectacular second-half comeback as they came from two goals behind to beat Luton 3-2 at the CBS Arena.
The Hatters were 2-0 up at the break after Carlton Morris' penalty and Elijah Adebayo's second goal in consecutive games.
Ellis Simms powered home a header and Victor Torp's spectacular effort got City back on level terms before Haji Wright bundled home a winner after Tom Holmes had been sent off.
It proved to be just a second win in 10 league outings for Mark Robins' side, who lifted themselves out of the bottom three in the process.
Morris' penalty came against the run of play after a strong start from Coventry.
A clever corner routine from the hosts led to Ben Sheaf's flick giving Tatsuhiro Sakamoto a sight at goal which was blocked by the onrushing Adebayo, before Josh Eccles' follow-up was pushed away by Thomas Kaminski.
Kaminsi was also called upon to save Milan van Ewijk's strike from distance before Simms diverted Eccles' free kick wide.
Sheaf then fired into the side netting after van Ewijk's cut-back, but at the other end Sakamoto got himself in a tangle and brought down Tahith Chong in the box.
Morris stepped up to net his fourth of the season from the spot.
Luton almost doubled their lead through Chong, who took advantage of the space vacated by the stricken Bobby Thomas before turning and shooting, but his effort was brilliantly tipped round the post by Oliver Dovin.
Simms, who had only scored once in the league this season, glanced van Ewijk's corner wide as Coventry looked for an immediate reply.
Luton extended their lead before half time when Tom Krauss played in Adebayo and the forward netted his second of the season by smartly lifting his effort over Dovin.
Robins' side came out all guns blazing after the interval as they looked to reduce the arrears, firstly through Wright, who headed a dangerous cross from the right wide before seeing an effort deflected over the crossbar.
Kaminski was in the action once again as he saved Sheaf's long-range effort, but he could do nothing to stop Simms powering home Jack Rudoni's in-swinging corner.
Eccles whistled a shot wide for the hosts whilst Wright chopped inside and forced Kaminski into another save for the visitors.
Coventry had their equaliser through Torp, who curled in a spectacular effort from outside the box which crashed in off the inside of the post.
Holmes' red card as the clock hit 90 minutes spurred the Sky Blues on to grab their winner as Wright bundled in on the line despite the best efforts of Kaminski, giving Coventry a well-deserved win.
Coventry's Mark Robins:
"I thought we were thoroughly deserved winners and I thought everybody played their part. I thought there were some top, outstanding performances, some really brilliant elements to the performance and all the contributions were really good.
"We were calm, we played to what the game gave us, we turned them, we ran after it, we put them under pressure and you could see that they'd played on Wednesday.
"I don't think we deserved to go one down, never mind two down. They had two opportunities to score and they took them both because of decisions that we made.
"We seem to make elementary decisions and get punished for them, and there's just no rhyme or reason to it. Communication, desire, it was all there on show apart from two moments.
"I thought we defended really well against those two (Morris and Adebayo), I think we played as well against them as we've played ever, it's only the second time I think we've beaten them in the time we've been playing against them."
Luton's Rob Edwards:
"It's on me, 2-0 up away from home and we have lost the game. I feel as bad as I have ever felt in football right now. It's difficult to come out now and speak.
"It was difficult, it was hard. We tried to make changes earlier, even at 2-0 we changed the pressing because they were going fairly direct and in behind anyway.
"Ultimately we haven't defended well enough, they get a glimmer of hope from a set piece and the momentum is with them and in the stadium.
"We tried everything, players are giving me everything but ultimately we've lost the game from a commanding position and that's on me."
