Football Mar 27, 2026

Coventry City 3-0 Preston North End: Sky Blues move eight points clear at the top

👤
By Admin
Sports Journalist
Coventry City 3-0 Preston North End: Sky Blues move eight points clear at the top

Coventry moved eight points clear at the top of the Sky Bet Championship with a 3-0 win over struggling Preston.

Goals from Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Brandon Thomas-Asante in the first half were followed by Matt Grimes' penalty after half time.

The Sky Blues' sixth consecutive win opened up an eight-point gap to second-placed Middlesbrough, who lost at home to Charlton, and returned them nine points clear of third-placed Millwall.

Meanwhile, a third defeat on the bounce left Preston with just one win in 11 games.

Sakamoto scored his first goal since November in the 2-0 win over Bristol City on Saturday and made it two in two in fortunate fashion.

Frank Onkeya's crossfield pass was headed into the path of the Japanese winger, who took aim from outside the box and saw his effort take a wicked deflection off Ben Whiteman, leaving Daniel Iverson wrongfooted in the Preston goal.

The former Leicester stopper was making his first start since mid-January after missing the last 10 games with a groin injury, one of five changes by Paul Heckingbottom.

The Dane had already been called into action by Onyeka's sweetly-struck volley which he parried over the bar for a corner.

Frank Lampard's men doubled their lead just past the half hour mark through Thomas-Asante, who scored his first goal since November 4.

Liam Kitching's back-post header fell to Ellis Simms, whose determination meant he was able to get a shot off which was spectacularly pushed onto the bar by Iversen, and Thomas-Asante was on hand to bundle in from close range.

The trio were part of four changes made by Frank Lampard following the win at Ashton Gate on Saturday, which saw top scorer Haji Wright dropped to the bench despite scoring six goals in Coventry's five home games in 2026.

Preston arrived at the league leaders after back-to-back defeats to Oxford and Millwall and rarely threatened in the first half.

Spurs loanee Alfie Devine's near post free-kick was headed goalwards by Whiteman, who forced Carl Rushworth to make a strong save.

The Sky Blues extended their lead at the start of the first half when Pol Valentin was adjusted to have brought down Ephron Mason-Clark in the box.

Captain Grimes stepped up to send Iversen the wrong way to score his second goal of the season.

Mason-Clark went on a mazy run before lifting his effort over the bar as Coventry looked to add to the 77 goals they've racked up the season.

Substitute Josh Eccles then also shot over the crossbar after a delightful cross in from Jahnoah Markelo as Coventry strolled to a comfortable 23rd win of the season.

Coventry's Frank Lampard:

"It was an all-round performance. The approach, the focus was clearly evident from the start of the game.

"The way we moved the ball, the quality of our play, the chances we created, the focus to not give away transition and it all starts with counter pressing.

"It was very, very complete in how we dealt with a very tricky game for us. Preston are no bad team and we played really well.

"It's nice to establish a gap, we focus on ourselves, we're obviously aware of other results but we're at the point now where we have to go game by game.

"Southampton comes along really quickly and we know how quickly points can swing in this league because you play so much, nine games is 27 points so we can be happy with the performance tonight but we have to go again, onto the next one, and have that clinical mentality about us which we showed tonight."

Preston's Paul Heckingbottom:

"We knew it was going to be a difficult place to come because they're really at it, and they were really hungry from minute one - how they competed, when they lost the ball, how quickly they went to try and win the league back.

"It took us a few minutes to get to grips with that. We weren't brilliant with the ball all night. I thought we were a bit loose under their pressure.

"The first goal, you can say they've earned their luck because they were playing well but we're disappointed with that, obviously not much we can do about it.

"The second goal we are disappointed with because we lost three first contacts in the box, Dan [Iversen] makes a good save and again, that hunger and drive from them, that's why they're up there, it's why they're scoring all the goals.

"The third is not a penalty, their lads said it wasn't a penalty, we know it's not a penalty and that sort of took the game away from us."

Tags:

football report

Share this article

Related Posts

Lionel Messi: Argentina legend undecided on whether he will play at the 2026 World Cup, says Lionel Scaloni

Lionel Messi: Argentina legend undecided on whether he will play at the 2026 World Cup, says Lionel Scaloni

Lionel Messi is yet to decide whether he will play for Argentina at the World Cup this summer. Messi, 38, was named in the Argentina squad for the fri...

Liverpool defender Andy Robertson on enjoying Scotland high ahead of World Cup - 'It's kept me going at times'

Liverpool defender Andy Robertson on enjoying Scotland high ahead of World Cup - 'It's kept me going at times'

Defender Andy Robertson admits the high of Scotland's successful World Cup qualifying campaign has "kept me going" during a tough season at Liverpool....

England vs Uruguay: Thomas Tuchel to test options as questions linger on what Three Lions do without Harry Kane

England vs Uruguay: Thomas Tuchel to test options as questions linger on what Three Lions do without Harry Kane

On this day 11 years ago, Harry Kane came on as a substitute for Wayne Rooney at Wembley to make his England debut against Lithuania. Eighty seconds l...

WSL derby day bonanza as Arsenal host Spurs, Man City face Man Utd and Liverpool take on Everton while Chelsea need big boost

WSL derby day bonanza as Arsenal host Spurs, Man City face Man Utd and Liverpool take on Everton while Chelsea need big boost

Everton vs Liverpool - Saturday, kick-off 12pm, live on Your SiteLiverpool will be pleased to see a five-point cushion open up between themselves and...

Premier League fixtures live on Sky Sports: PL title hopefuls and Man Utd vs Liverpool to be shown live on Sky in May

Premier League fixtures live on Sky Sports: PL title hopefuls and Man Utd vs Liverpool to be shown live on Sky in May

Two Premier League matches involving Premier League title hopefuls Arsenal and Manchester City, as well as Liverpool's trip to Manchester United, are...

World Cup 2026: Train tickets between Boston and Gillette Stadium to almost quadruple in cost ahead of England and Scotland matches

World Cup 2026: Train tickets between Boston and Gillette Stadium to almost quadruple in cost ahead of England and Scotland matches

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) intends to almost quadruple its usual prices for a round-trip train ticket from the centre of Bo...