Haji Wright ends goal drought with winner for Coventry against Leicester

Haji Wright scored for the first time since early October as Sky Bet Championship leaders Coventry came from behind to beat local rivals Leicester 2-1.

Wright came off the bench to secure Frank Lampard’s side a crucial three points in the race for promotion.

Jordan James had opened the scoring for Marti Cifuentes’ side before Ellis Simms equalised shortly after the break.

It was a much-needed win for the Sky Blues, who had seen their lead over second-placed Middlesbrough cut to just three points after a run of two wins in eight since the start of December.

James netted his ninth league goal of the season at the end of a sumptuous, free-flowing Leicester attack.

Abdul Fatawu’s forward pass allowed Bobby De Cordova-Reid to pirouette and play in James to sweep home at the near post after 11 minutes.

Roles were reversed five minutes later when James cut the ball back for De Cordova-Reid, who scuffed his shot but forced a fantastic save from Coventry goalkeeper Carl Rushworth, who sprawled to tip the effort over the crossbar.

From the resulting corner, Caleb Okoli headed narrowly wide as Leicester looked to capitalise on their momentum.

Leicester had conceded seven goals in their previous two league outings away from the King Power Stadium and had managed to keep Coventry comfortably at bay in the opening stages.

But the Sky Blues were always going to pose a threat at some stage, and Ephron Mason-Clark almost equalised in spectacular fashion when his overhead-kick whistled past a post.

Joel Latibeaudiere’s raking cross-field pass picked out Jay Dasilva and the left-back brought the ball down and crossed towards Mason-Clark, who nodded agonisingly past the far post.

Coventry took less than two minutes after half-time to pull themselves level in somewhat fortuitous fashion.

Jack Rudoni, who missed three months with a calf injury sustained in the reverse fixture in September, lashed a shot goalwards, the ball rebounded off Simms and nestled in the corner.

Crystal Palace loanee Romaine Esse was making his first league start for the Sky Blues, and he almost put Lampard’s men in front when he latched onto a loose ball and crashed a powerful effort against a post.

A flurry of substitutions just past the hour included the introduction of Wright, who was straight into the action and forced a good save from Jakub Stolarczyk with his left foot after a well-weighted pass from Mason-Clark.

Fatawu had endured a quiet second half after causing Dasilva plenty of problems down the right in the opening exchanges, but found space and drove towards goal before unleashing a powerful effort that was well held by Rushworth.

The winner came with just five minutes of normal time to spare. Leicester failed to clear their lines as the ball bounced in the box and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto took full advantage.

The Japanese winger dragged his shot to the far post where a perfectly-placed Wright was waiting to slide in and secure Coventry a vital victory.