The Sky Blues conceded a late sucker punch at the Coventry Building Society Arena against high flying QPRA late QPR winner denied Coventry City what would have been a more than deserved point after a thrilling display at the CBS Arena.
The Championship high fliers grabbed the early lead against the Sky Blues when Andre Gray struck home in the sixth minute as Mark Robins’s men were denied time and time again by the opposition keeper.
A stunning Jordan Shipley equaliser early in the second half gave the home side the impetus to push for a winner but despite their best efforts, Albert Adomah popped up to bag the points in a thoroughly entertaining game.
City played some lovely football from the start, knocking it about with confidence from the back and creating a good opening as early as the second minute when Ben Sheaf played an exquisite pass to send Jamie Allen scurrying through on goal.
The attacking midfielder hit a powerful shot that the keeper parried and then punched as Viktor Gyokeres threatened to get his head to the rebound.
There was action at the other end, however, a few minutes later when Andre Gray got ahead of Jake Clarke-Salter leaving Simon Moore to drop down to block at the striker’s feet.
The City keeper, however, was beaten by Gray in the sixth minute when he cut in from the left past Dom Hyam and placed a low and precise shot across him and into the far bottom corner to give the visitors the early lead.
The game was wide open and Coventry continued to look good going forward with Gyokeres feeding Allen who was denied a second time by the keeper who parried his angled shot, with no-one following up on the loose ball.
Gyokeres then had two bites of the cherry with two close range shots in quick succession that were blocked by the inspired goalkeeper David Marshall who pulled off another impressive stop to deny Callum O’Hare’s hooked shot that looked to be flying into the top corner.
The referee came in for stick midway through the half after waving away two penalty appeals after shots from Hamer and O’Hare appeared to be blocked by the arms of Rangers’ defenders.
The stats looked favourable at the 30 minute mark with City enjoying 65 per cent of possession and having nine shots at goal, five of which had been on target.
Rangers began to come into the game more as the half progressed and should really have doubled their lead when Lee Wallace missed at sitter at the far post, scooping a loose ball over the bar from close range.
Robins’s men started the second half with plenty of purpose and finally beat Marshall, and got their rewards, when Todd Kane played a short corner to Shipley who stuck a lovely left footed shot from 25 yards out to equalise through a crowded box.
The game was then brought to a halt after a member of the public got injured in the resulting celebrations in the corner of the ground, with club medics racing to help stewards attend to the fan, which caused a delay of around 12 minutes.
Gyokeres went close shortly after the re-start when he wriggled free on the left and hit a powerful shot that flashed across the face of goal as City pushed for the lead. Hamer then picked up a loose ball and drove forwards to unleash a low shot, only to be denied by another save as City had all the momentum as they went in search of a second goal.
The visitors weathered the storm and began to apply pressure themselves and suddenly restored their advantage when Albert Adomah gave the back line the slip, nipping in behind to head home a floated in cross from the left to give Rangers the 88th minute lead.
Coventry kept plugging away in 16 minutes of time added for stoppages but couldn’t find the quality final touch their performance deserved.
ATTENDANCE: 20,942 (3,867 away)