Sheffield Wednesday 1-2 Coventry City: Ellis Simms scores late second to secure Sky Blues win

Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Sheffield Wednesday and Coventry City at Hillsborough on Saturday; Ellis Simms snatches a late win for Frank Lampard's play-off chasing Sky Blues.

Saturday 15 February 2025 19:02, UK

Ellis Simms snatched a last-gasp winner for Coventry in a 2-1 win against Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.

Simms had put the visitors ahead in the first half before Joel Latibeaudiere's own goal levelled.

Although the Owls dominated the second half it was Coventry who won it late when Simms tapped home in the third minute of stoppage time.

Sheffield Wednesday skipper Barry Bannan returned to the starting XI after missing the midweek win at Swansea due to injury, while Josh Windass dropped to the bench. Stuart Armstrong was also included in the starting XI.

New signing Jamie Paterson was named among the substitutes for the Sky Blues as Latibeaudiere returned to the line-up to captain the visitors. Brandon Thomas-Asante also came back in to lead the line alongside Simms.

After a quiet five minutes, Wednesday had three great chances as Svante Ingelsson, Ike Ugbo and Djeidi Gassama had shots blocked in quick succession.

Ingelsson came close again as his powerful shot was saved by goalkeeper Oliver Dovin.

Coventry took the lead through Simms in the 16th minute when he headed in Jack Rudoni's cross.

The Owls put Coventry under heavy pressure as Shea Charles saw his free-kick deflected over the crossbar just before Ugbo drove into the box and forced a save from Dovin.

With 10 minutes to go in the half, Rudoni hit a low driven shot goalwards which was parried by James Beadle and Simms fired in from the rebound but the goal was ruled out for a foul on the keeper.

Wednesday boss Danny Rohl brought on Windass at the start of the second half as they looked for a quick start and Bannan had a chance when his shot was blocked inside the box.

The home side equalised in the 63rd minute through an own goal by Latibeaudiere. A low cross flew into the visitors' box and Dovin parried it straight into the defender with the ball bouncing back over the line.

The Sky Blues almost went ahead for a second time as Simms caused chaos in the Wednesday box, nodding the ball down to Josh Eccles whose shot was blocked.

Ephron Mason-Clark put a cross into the box for Tatsuhiro Sakamoto to head towards goal but the ball was punched off the line by Beadle.

Simms snatched victory for Coventry in stoppage time when he pounced on Beadle's mistake to tap the ball into an empty net.

The managers

Sheffield Wednesday's Danny Rohl:

"You can say apart from the two conceded goals, we did everything right. On the front foot, high intensity, a lot of shots. We created a lot of opportunities, set-pieces, front-foot defending, on the pitch, from the bench. I cannot blame or complain about something. I was disappointed about the first goal because, again, no pressure on the ball.

"I'm proud of my team, how they play football. I think we played the football that we want to see, but we didn't get the right result. I said to my players after the game, this is the difference between an individual sport like tennis and a team one like football.

"In individual sports you have to take the responsibility as your own, but also like team sports, you have to stick together and you have to take responsibility as a group and we have to lift each other. We have to help each other, recover and then next week we go again."

Coventry's Frank Lampard:

"The lads defended the box really well, defended all their corners really well. But if you defend a lot, sometimes those goals can just come.

"For the work we've done over these last two months and where we are trying to get to, sometimes a game just challenges you in a different way. This one did and the players dug in and we went at it at the end.

They give you problems. You know they've got a good strong squad and a well-coached team and they give you issues and Barry Bannan is so influential, popping up around the pitch and finding passes, so we knew that was coming a little bit."