Frank Lampard was left heartbroken as Coventry suffered a last-minute defeat in the play-off semi-final against Sunderland. The Sky Blues, now under the leadership of the Chelsea legend, once again narrowly missed out on post-season success. However, he dropped a reality bomb by explaining just how far the club have come under his leadership.
Sunderland’s path to Wembley was secured by Daniel Ballard’s extra-time header, ending the Championship season in fourth place, just ahead of Coventry. Since taking over in December when the club were languishing in 17th place, Lampard has orchestrated an impressive turnaround.
The Midlands team suffered a late defeat in the first leg, losing 2-1 due to Eliezer Mayenda’s 88th-minute goal. Despite this, Lampard insisted that his side dominated at home and put on another remarkable performance at the Stadium of Light.
Ephron Mason-Clark’s goal took the match into extra time, and it seemed destined for penalties until Sunderland clinched victory at the last moment. This left many Coventry players devastated and visibly struggling to come to terms with the loss.
Lampard has previously experienced play-off disappointment as a manager, having lost the final to Aston Villa with Derby in 2019. However, he was noticeably emotional after this match, trying to process the defeat after his players had given their all.
He remarked: “Firstly congratulations to Sunderland, they go to the final but immense pride I’ve got in my players. If anyone watched the two games, we dominated at home, we made a mistake and they scored. I think we dominated huge periods of this game. We played, controlled and in the second half it was wave after wave.
“The players have given everything from where we’ve come from – 17th in the league in December and the players have been brilliant in the second half of the season.
“They had to concede to us because of the way we played and with the way the lads controlled the game they don’t deserve it. I’m a lot older and I’ve been around a lot so I’ve taken whacks and I’ve had success so maybe I can be a bit more balanced in my job but for those players, they don’t deserve that.
“We’re not bitter, and congratulations to Sunderland but we were the better team over the two football matches and that’s why they’ll be so happy going to Wembley.”
It’s been a near miss for Coventry’s Premier League dreams again—this being the second time in three seasons that they’ve been tantalisingly close, only to fall short. Two years previous, under Mark Robins’ management, they lost out to Luton on penalties in the play-off final.
The Sky Blues are still chasing their first top-flight involvement since 2001.