Wycombe Wanderers vs Coventry City. Sky Bet Championship.
Adams Park.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Wycombe and Coventry at Adams Park as two goals from Liam Kelly steered the Sky Blues to victory; Joe Jacobson scored a consolation penalty for the Chairboys.
Saturday 12 December 2020 18:25, UK
Liam Kelly's first goals for over two years gave Coventry their first away league win of the season as they held on for a 2-1 victory at struggling Wycombe.
Kelly, who later went off injured, had not scored since a victory over Stevenage in April 2018 while the Sky Blues were in League Two, but his timely double sent Mark Robins' side eight points clear of the bottom three.
Wycombe fought back hard after Joe Jacobson's penalty pulled a goal back, but they remain two points adrift of safety after their winless run was extended to eight games.
Captain Matt Bloomfield almost had the Wycombe supporters out of their seats after 11 minutes when he sent a volley from just outside the area wide after Jack Grimmer's cross had been cleared into his path.
The Chairboys certainly started the livelier of the two teams, albeit without creating any clear-cut opportunities in from of 2,000 supporters at Adams Park.
Bloomfield had another sighter after Alex Samuel had battled for a free-kick from deep, but his effort was comfortably dealt with by Coventry goalkeeper Ben Wilson.
The Sky Blues, unbeaten in six but the only team in the Championship without an away win this season going into this game, had their first opening after 33 minutes when Kelly shot wide.
But he was on target for the visitors just a minute later when he seized possession in midfield before smacking an excellent shot into the bottom corner from 25 yards.
Having ended his long goal drought, Kelly grabbed his second right on half-time, heading in from close range after Dominic Hyam had nodded Gustavo Hamer's free-kick back across goal.
It was his last act, as he was replaced for the second half by Amadou Bakayoko, having taken a knock just before he doubled his tally.
Coventry were now looking full of confidence and came close to a third when an audacious lob from Fankaty Dabo dropped just over the bar.
But Wycombe were given a route back into the game just after the hour mark when Kyle McFadzean bundled over David Wheeler in the area and Jacobson sent Wilson the wrong way from the penalty spot to halve the deficit.
Fred Onyedinma should have drawn the Chairboys level four minutes later when he blazed over after surging through on goal.
Hamer then almost restored Coventry's two-goal cushion in sensational fashion when his lob from 45 yards sailed over Ryan Allsop and clipped the outside of the post.
Wycombe thought they had snatched a point in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Scott Kashket tapped in after Wilson had saved Adebayo Akinfenwa's volley, but an offside flag meant their joy was shortlived.
Wycombe's Gareth Ainsworth: "I thought the officials were going to get better at this level, and I'm not going to say anymore than that. We've been on the end of a couple of decisions that have gone against us - there was one where we were in possession and it's hit the referee and the referee gave the ball back to Coventry.
"I was baffled by it, but I wouldn't like to be a ref, I've said this many times. It's tough and I just hope that we can get some decisions going our way in the second half of the season because it certainly hasn't gone our way this side of it. I honestly think we were the better team today and we've got to start putting our chances in."
Coventry's Mark Robins: "He [Liam Kelly] got up to the edge of the box and hit it true because he can, that's just belief. He's hit it, it's gone in, we're 1-0 up and then he's injured, really, wants to come off and I've asked him to stay on because obviously that takes away an opportunity to make a substitution. He did and with that he's got what turned out to be the winning goal.
"It's bittersweet for him and for us because we'll miss him for a period of time now, but ultimately it's a really good three points for us. It's a tough place to come, we've loads of injury problems and all sort of things that are going on, so the team changes around. We had to change our game when Gus (Hamer) came on and Kells has done his groin while he's on a hat-trick, so there's loads of things that happened in this game."
