Coventry City 0 - 0 Sheffield Wednesday

Coventry made to wait for promotion by Sheff Wed draw



Coventry City were forced to wait to clinch promotion to the Premier League after being held by relegated Sheffield Wednesday.

A win for the Championship leaders would have meant they would have gone up later on Saturday if Middlesbrough failed to beat Portsmouth.

However, in front of an expectant crowd, Frank Lampard's men could not find the kind of fluency in attack they have shown all season.

The closest they came was Liam Kitching's header from Jack Rudoni's corner which was headed off the line by Svante Ingelsson in the first half.

Jerry Yates and Ingelsson both had chances to give the Owls, who are now winless in 37 matches in all competitions, a shock lead after the break.

Coventry did improve as the match wore on but failed to force Wednesday goalkeeper Pierce Charles into a meaningful save, although Ellis Simms nearly won it in the final moments of six minutes added on when his deflected overhead kick went just wide.

Regardless of other results, Coventry will be promoted if they win at struggling Blackburn on Friday.

Henrik Pedersen's administration-hit Wednesday side, meanwhile, have now drawn successive matches and are up to minus four points for the campaign.

This stalemate was a second this week for Coventry after the 0-0 draw at Hull City on Easter Monday.

Against a team who had lost 30 of their 41 league games going into this match and been beaten 5-0 by the Sky Blues in the reverse fixture in October, most expected the result to be a formality.

However, just as in East Yorkshire five days earlier, Lampard's men never really built up any sustained momentum on their opponents' goal.

Kitching's header was the clearest opportunity either side had by some way in a evenly-contested first half in front of a stadium record of 31,647.

Brandon Thomas-Asante fluffed a good opportunity to put the hosts in front when he totally failed to make contact with a presentable volleyed chance and Yates then turned over Jaden Heskey's cross from close range down the other end.

Coventry pushed on and on for a winner that would, with their goal difference, have made promotion a mere formality and sub Josh Eccles had a header drop just wide.

Simms then came agonisingly close to pinching it with almost the final action of the match but his deflected acrobatic attempt kissed the outside of the post.

Despite this disappointment, victory in Lancashire on Friday will see Coventry end their 25-year wait for top flight football.

Wednesday will hope to take this positive momentum into their game against Charlton at Hillsborough next Saturday as they look to avoid becoming the first team in Football League history to fail to win a home match all season.

Coventry City boss Frank Lampard told BBC CWR:

"We created enough to score but we're not quite at our sharpest at the top of the pitch.

"It's normal to feel frustrated but we have to temper that with where we are and the bigger picture.

"We lacked zip around the top end of the pitch. The counter-pressing and speed of our reactions was slightly down.

"The players are learning and living with the expectancy over when you can get promoted for a club that hasn't been there for a long time. I get that and you can't discount them.

"We've got four games to go, we know what we've got to do. It's in our hands and we have to do it."