Coventry City vs Ipswich Town. Sky Bet Championship.
The Coventry Building Society ArenaAttendance26,457.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Coventry City and Ipswich Town at the Coventry Building Society Arena on Tuesday; Goals from Kieffer Moore and Cameron Burgess move Kieran McKenna's Tractor Boys to within a single point of automatic promotion
Wednesday 1 May 2024 07:59, UK
Ipswich moved within a single point of securing automatic promotion to the Premier League after a 2-1 win at Coventry on Tuesday night.
The Tractor Boys are now three points clear of third-placed Leeds, meaning a draw at home to Huddersfield on Saturday - who are all but relegated already - will be enough to take them back to the top flight for the first time since 2001/02.
Kieffer Moore slammed the visitors in front inside 10 minutes, but Coventry improved and pulled level courtesy of Haji Wright with just over an hour gone.
But centre-back Cameron Burgess was the unlikely hero at the Coventry Building Society Arena scoring less than five minutes later.
That ensured Town became the first newly promoted side in second-tier history to win 27 league matches in a season and left them on the verge of securing historic back-to-back promotions.
Knowing the value of a win at the CBS, Ipswich flew out of the blocks to stop Coventry from getting into any sort of rhythm - and they established the lead within 10 minutes.
Wes Burns made light work of left-back Jay Dasilva and, once at the byline, showed the presence of mind to pull the ball back into space for Moore to arrive and slam in the opener.
Coventry had the lion's share of possession after that and were much the better side. For the most part, they were unable to make anything of their dominance, but they should have had the lead just past half an hour.
Kasey Palmer's shot ricocheted off the feet of Sam Morsy and Burns, with a sensational reaction save from Ipswich goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky denying Wright when he struck the rebound goalwards.
In first-half stoppage time, Burns glided past Dasilva again and lifted in a delightful cross that found Nathan Broadhead, whose downward header was kept out by Brad Collins.
Collins' poor clearance allowed Broadhead to collect the ball and smash a shot off the crossbar after the break, but shortly afterwards, Wright levelled when he lashed a shot past Hladky after being fed by Palmer.
Parity was short-lived, though. Leif Davis' free-kick from the left looked to have gone to waste, but when Milan van Ewijk failed to clear at the back post, Burgess took control and fired in off the inside of the post.
There were nerves aplenty in the away end as time ticked by - particularly as a further four minutes were added following an unprecedented change of referee - and Coventry continued to offer a threat, so when that final whistle blew, the feeling of relief was palpable.
Kieran McKenna does not expect "smooth sailing" on the final day of the Championship season after Ipswich moved a step closer to a Premier League return following victory at Coventry.
McKenna said: "I've got belief in them and a lot of belief in what we've done, the consistency that we've shown, how we prepare for games, how we concentrate throughout games and how we get our identity out there on the pitch gives us a great chance to win games.
"I've got a lot of belief but it's a football match, two teams in the same division, one who were in a lower division the season before.
"Anything can happen, I don't expect it to be smooth sailing. There's going to be tension in the game for sure as there is when you're fighting for things but it'll be about doing enough of the right things to help us keep on top of that."
Meanwhile, Coventry manager Mark Robins was quick to praise the achievements of McKenna and Ipswich as his Sky Blues side suffered their fourth defeat in five league outings.
He said: "Rubbish result, performance was OK. It was a little bit flat at times. We attacked pretty well against a really good side.
"But first of all, congratulations to them because they are almost there; the prize is almost there for them.
"From our perspective, we gave away a really soft goal whilst we were trying to build into the game, and that's really been the story of our season - we concede too many goals, quite a few goals. We're on the back foot and give ourselves a mountain to climb.
"We have to address that because you can't win things if you're conceding too many goals."
Both teams finish the regular Sky Bet Championship season at 12.30pm on Saturday May 4.
Coventry host QPR at the Coventry Building Society Arena, while Ipswich face Huddersfield at Portman Road.
