Coventry City vs Middlesbrough. Sky Bet Championship.
The Coventry Building Society ArenaAttendance18,515.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Coventry and Middlesbrough at the Coventry Building Society Arena as Viktor Gyokeres and Martyn Waghorn steered the Sky Blues to victory.
Saturday 11 September 2021 19:05, UK
Martyn Waghorn scored his first goal of the season as Coventry maintained their perfect home start with a 2-0 win over Middlesbrough.
Viktor Gyokeres opened the scoring before Waghorn's late second at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Boro have now gone four games without a win after their first defeat to the Sky Blues in nine years.
The first chance of the game fell to the hosts. Jamie Allen broke down the right-hand side but Waghorn fired over the bar.
Neil Warnock's visitors came close to scoring down the other end, with Uche Ikpeazu unable to get on the end of Norwich loanee Onel Hernandez's delivery.
And Boro threatened again as Marcus Tavernier's effort was beaten away by Sky Blues stopper Simon Moore.
After a brief period of defending, City went on the attack.
Waghorn did well to skip past Sol Bamba, a last-minute replacement for former Manchester United player Paddy McNair, but Joe Lumley produced a fine save.
The ball came back into the box and Allen's effort was deflected wide. Dominic Hyam headed the resultant corner into the side netting.
After a slow spell, Hernandez fired wide of the mark after cutting inside to get a shot off six minutes before the break and Bamba's overhead kick was kept out by Moore on the stroke of half-time.
Moore made a fine triple save moments after the restart. The keeper kept out Ikpeazu and Hernandez before getting up to deny the Cuban again.
Down the other end Lumley did well to keep out Hyam's header after he was picked out by Gustavo Hamer's corner at the back post.
Mark Robins' City hit the front with 19 minutes to go. Swedish striker Gyokeres raced on to Allen's through-ball, rounded Lumley and slotted home the opener.
The hosts pushed for a second as Hamer's free-kick forced Lumley into a decent save.
Boro loanee Andraz Sporar headed against the crossbar but Gyokeres could have put the game to bed when he fired over the bar with 10 minutes to go.
Lumley made another good stop right at the death to deny Gyokeres a deserved second but there was nothing he could do to stop Waghorn getting off the mark.
Coventry's Mark Robins: "It was brilliant. We worked really hard this week. We've just spoken in the dressing room and it's okay us putting game plans into place but they have to execute it, and they did that to perfection. I could talk about everyone today. It was a great team performance. That starts from the goalkeeper (Simon Moore) with a triple save in the first half. He was magnificent and that gives you the confidence to go on from there.
"(Boro are) really difficult to play against, they're physical, they're powerful and they have a lot of experience. They're a team who would be challenging, I reckon, and are set up to challenge. I didn't think we got that close to them last year in both games. This one was a tougher game than those last season."
Middlesbrough's Neil Warnock: "We took the game to them in the second half. We had a few great chances, their goalie made a super double or triple save. To give a goal away like we did is a travesty. We had two players on the line and it's gone between them. It was like a comedy.
"The game was too open for my liking. I thought we looked more threatening when we got on the ball and we should have scored that first goal. Dear me, we had three opportunities to score and then we hit the bar. We've got to stop feeling sorry for ourselves. It's one of those things and it just wasn't to be."
