COVENTRY, ENGLAND - MARCH 8: Coventry City's Jay Dasilva during the Sky Bet Championship match between Coventry City FC and Stoke City FC at The Coventry Building Society Arena on March 8, 2025 in Coventry, England. (Photo by Stephen White - CameraSport via Getty Images)
Coventry City player ratings as Sky Blues defend manfully for 89 minutes at Luton Town
Coventry City player ratings from CoventryLive as Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner hands out the scores from Kenilworth Road
Coventry City defended manfully for 89 minutes – 55 of which with only ten men – before finally conceding to relegation battling Luton Town in the last minute of regular time.
Goalkeeper Brad Collins played his part in keeping the ball out with a number of decent saves but the Sky Blues stopper clattered into Liam Kitching at the death as they attempted to clear a high ball into the box and the ball fell loose to Shandon Baptiste to steer home into an unguarded net
City were dealt an early blow when they were reduced to ten men with just 13 minutes on the clock when Jay Dasilva was sent off for a last man tackle on Millenic Alli as the defender inadvertently clipped the forward’s heel as he was chasing him.
That resulted in Jake Bidwell going on and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto being taken off, and triggered an onslaught from the home side who threw men forward and balls into the box in a bid to gain an early advantage.
Frank Lampard’s men defended valiantly for the entire first half, heading, blocking and kicking clear from their area as the Hatters set up camp in the final third with almost continuous pressure to the break.
For all Luton’s 70 percent possession, which included seven corners and nine free-kicks slung into the box, they had 11 attempts on goal but only three on target – two of which were from Thelo Aasgaard who was denied by good saves from Brad Collins.
The under-fire keeper then pulled off two more crucial saves after the break when he tipped a Liam Walsh shot onto the bar before blocked with his legs at his near post to deny Alli.
There was high drama in the 68th minute when former Citry loan man Walsh was shown a straight red for pushing Binks in the face in an off the ball incident that saw the two sides level in numbers on ten men each.
City then enjoyed more of the ball and had one clear cut chance when Haji Wright headed wide but Town came again and finally snatched victory at the death.
