Coventry City vs Sheffield United. Sky Bet League One.
Ricoh ArenaAttendance8,801.
Friday 16 December 2016 08:12, UK
Protests from Coventry City fans overshadowed Sheffield United's 2-1 victory at the Ricoh Arena, which sees them move up to second in the Sky Bet League One table.
Referee David Webb was forced to bring the players off temporarily in the second half as Coventry supporters made their way onto the pitch to voice their objection to owners SISU.
And it was Billy Sharp who struck the winner moments after the game restarted in the 87th minute, having also put the Blades ahead in the first half.
Coventry had drawn level through Daniel Agyei, but Sharp's 14th league goal of the campaign helped United move into second, level on points with first-place Scunthorpe.
The first half begun to a vast amount of whistles being blown by the home fans, while play was halted for a number of minutes early on after a fan ran onto the pitch to sit in the centre circle.
On the pitch, it was United who were doing more of the talking - and Sharp deservedly handed them the lead midway through the first half.
With the first attempt on goal, Sharp drilled low beyond Reice Charles-Cook after Daniel Lafferty's cross had just evaded Matt Done.
Coventry grew into the match after going a goal down, and Andre Wright should have levelled just before the break, but sent his effort over from 12 yards out.
Six minutes into the second half, Coventry equalised through Agyei, whose deflected effort from the corner of the box looped over the helpless Simon Moore.
After Marvin Sordell went close for the hosts, substitute Caolan Lavery hit the post on two occasions from almost identical positions within the space of three minutes.
The visitors were knocking on the door and John Fleck went close with a low strike after bursting into the box.
Three minutes from time, Coventry fans came onto the pitch, holding banners and chanting in protest - leading to the referee hauling the players off and bringing a halt to play.
After a five-minute break, the players came back on, and within a minute of the restart, Sharp bagged his second of the night after Charles-Cook saved his initial effort.
United saw the game out to claim a valuable three points which seems them leapfrog Bolton into second.
