Coventry City 1-0 Queens Park Rangers: Bobby Thomas scores stoppage-time winner for Sky Blues
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Coventry City and Queens Park Rangers at the Coventry Building Society Arena on Tuesday night; Bobby Thomas strikes deep into stoppage-time to earn a last-ditch win for Frank Lampard's Sky Blues.
Tuesday 11 February 2025 23:04, UK
Bobby Thomas scored a winner in the fourth minute of stoppage time as Coventry beat QPR 1-0 at the CBS Arena.
The game looked to be heading for stalemate when Thomas nodded in from Jack Rudoni's corner to earn Frank Lampard's men a fifth win in six league outings.
The Sky Blues had won four matches in a row until their run was halted abruptly by Leeds, before they were thrashed 4-1 by Premier League Ipswich in the FA Cup on Saturday.
Only the top four sides had taken more points than Rangers and the Sky Blues over the last 20 games, as both sides turned around their early-season woes.
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They came into the clash locked on points, with only four goals between them.
Michael Frey had the best chance of the evening for Marti Cifuentes' men when he was picked out by Kenneth Paal's wonderfully-weighted cross, but his effort was thwarted by the sprawling Oliver Dovin in the Coventry goal.
Ilias Chair had a heavy hand in the move when his improvisation set Paal away down the left and the Moroccan then forced Dovin to turn his effort round a post when he cut in and took aim at goal.
It was a busy night for Dovin, who also acrobatically beat away Paul Smyth's effort in the first half.
Jack Colback made his first Hoops start since September having scored the winner last time out against Blackburn and he fired an effort wide following a well-worked corner.
Matt Grimes forced QPR goalkeeper Paul Nardi into his best stop of the evening before the Frenchman was up quickly to smother Ellis Simms' follow-up.
Rudoni should have done better when he was picked out by Victor Torp's cutback, while Torp's deflected effort had to be dealt with by Nardi with Simms lurking for a rebound.
Coventry did have the ball in the net with under 10 minutes to go, but Tatsuhiro Sakamoto's celebrations were cut short by the linesman.
But they were not to be denied when Thomas lept highest to meet Rudoni's hanging corner and secure Coventry three valuable points in their quest for the play-offs.
The managers
Coventry's Frank Lampard:
"It's a great way to win a game," said Lampard. "I think first thing, respect to QPR. They played a good game as well, first half particularly when I thought we were quite a little bit off it, which is understandable after the week we have had.
"We stayed in it, which was tough, especially with set-pieces and transitions that they are good at. But we dealt with those in different ways and I thought we got what we deserved from what was a really close game that could easily have been a draw.
"But if you keep a clean sheet and have character then you give yourself a chance.
"They are big and physical and they rough you up and put it in the six-yard box, and they are dangerous at set pieces, so I'm as pleased with that as anything because that gave us the opportunity to then go down the other end, and it was a quality delivery and great finish from Bobby."
QPR's Marti Cifuentes:
"Big disappointment. All of us are very angry at the moment. I think it was a tight game, two teams competing at a good level with some good chances for both.
"Both keepers made good saves and I'm just disappointed by the way we conceded the corner kick.
"In the first half it was difficult to get into the game, for 20-25 minutes Coventry started the game better than us, we picked ourselves back up and I think we finished the first half in a strong way, the same with the second one.
"It feels hard, especially because it was a game with small margins for both teams, but again I felt to lose this way it hurts a lot because of the minute, but we play against a team that signed really well in the summer, signed one of the best midfielders in the league this winter window and it's a good team.
"My focus is always to win the next game, so I don't change much today.
"I'm more disappointed about not scoring the chances or not creating more in the last minutes of the game. We lost one point so it's not that much about the point, more about the opportunity to win the game."
