Watford vs Coventry City. Sky Bet Championship.
Vicarage RoadAttendance20,164.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Watford and Coventry City at Vicarage Road as Viktor Gyokeres scored the only goal of the game to seal victory for the Sky Blues.
Saturday 5 November 2022 18:48, UK
Coventry moved clear of the relegation places thanks to a 1-0 win at Watford that ended the Hornets' three-game winning run.
A goal from Viktor Gyokeres five minutes into the second half turned out to be just enough on a day when Watford had a goal disallowed as well as seeing Ismaila Sarr miss a golden chance.
Coventry, who had beaten Blackburn in midweek, went into the game with former Newcastle owner Mike Ashley emerging as the preferred bidder for the stadium they rent after the company that owns it went into administration.
The game's first chance fell to City via a swift counter-attack that saw Kasey Palmer play Gyokeres in on the right. The Swede's shot, though powerful, fizzed wide of Daniel Bachmann's near post.
The hosts had been building patient attacks of their own but with little end product and the Hornets had Bachmann to thank for tipping over a Gyokeres drive after the striker, unleashed by Jack Burroughs' pass, had turned defenders in the box.
Watford used a counter-attack to put the ball in the Coventry net after Joao Pedro's pass had allowed Sarr to set Keinan Davis up for a tap in. It was disallowed, to Watford protests, for a foul by Davis on Kyle McFadzean as he moved into position.
The Hornets were roused and City goalkeeper Ben Wilson had to make a super save to keep out Ken Sema's free-kick. Wilson had to block from Davis soon after but Sarr scuffed the loose ball wide.
Gyokeres was a one-man menace at the other end, though, and Francisco Sierralta had to slide in to deflect away a goal-bound effort.
Gustavo Hamer side-footed another City chance wide early in the second period but Watford replied with Sema off target in front of goal from Sarr's delivery.
Someone had to score eventually and it turned out to be Gyokeres in the 50th minute. Palmer's pass put Jamie Allen into a crossing position on the right and no home defender was near the Swede as he squeezed a first-time shot between Bachmann's dive and the far post.
Sarr's glancing header from Sema's cross eluded the sliding Davis by the barest of margins at the other end but Sarr was guilty of an astonishing miss in the 65th minute.
Hassane Kamara drilled the ball across the box from the left but somehow the Senegal forward managed to fire over an empty net from all of two yards.
Watford needed Hamza Choudhury's intervention to stop substitute Callum O'Hare setting Gyokeres up for another chance, illegally as it turned out, with Ben Sheaf going close from the free-kick move.
Edo Kayembe fired over at the other end but time ran out for Watford, who saw substitute Joseph Hungbo's shot tipped round by Wilson and Bachmann go up for stoppage-time corners.
Watford's Slaven Bilic: "Games like this you are of course disappointed and frustrated but not angry. I said that to the guys after the game. Of course heads were down but I said 'fellas, we did everything'.
"There was not any complacency, it wasn't that we didn't take the game seriously, we were on the front foot. We had everything apart from the hardest thing, the area where we normally have the most quality. Today it wasn't there."
Coventry's Mark Robins: "We keep setting records, it's phenomenal. To come here and get a clean sheet is phenomenal, there won't be many that do that. When you come to somewhere with Premier League quality and Premier League speed, because they move the ball quickly you have to match them out of possession, and I thought we did that really well. We cut their chances down to a minimum. They missed one across the face of goal, which should have been a certain goal, but we defended well overall.
"We looked a threat on the counter-attack and that's how the goal came about. We had chances in the first half - Vik had a brilliant one when he was put through. The quality of the goal was outstanding. Jamie (Allen) put in a fantastic delivery and Viktor did really well to get a decent contact on it, keep it down and put it in the far corner. I don't think anybody would begrudge us the win."
