Frank Lampard salutes Coventry City’s double hero as Premier League hopes remain alive

Coventry City’s hopes of a Premier League return are still alive after Jack Rudoni scored twice to power the Sky Blues into the play-offs, where they will face Sunderland

Jack Rudoni’s double powered C oventry City into the play-offs as a little midweek one-on-one with Frank Lampard paid off. The midfielder sent the largest Championship crowd at the Coventry Building Society Arena wild with delight as his neat header at the end of the first half settled home nerves.

And then he finished from sub Brandon Thomas-Asante two minutes from time to confirm a semi-final date against Sunderland.

An ecstatic Lampard said: “Rudi has been amazing – it was a fantastic midfield performance. He’s a really good header of the ball, it’s a great cross and finish. We stayed out this week in training working on those little cutbacks and finishing and it doesn’t always happen that you score – but it did today.

“He’s so engaging, he wants to train, he wants to ask questions. He’s an absolute dream to work with, and I was delighted that he was the main man.”

The victory capped a staggering rise from 17th when Lampard took over from Mark Robins seven months ago to their final finishing position of fifth. And it was a triumph all round for the former England international who gambled by bringing keeper Ben Wilson back into the fold following a lengthy lay-off with a knee injury.

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If it hadn’t been for Rudoni’s performance in front of the goal, the north-easterner would have been man-of-the-match. He pulled off a superb first-half stop – pushing Finn Azaz’s shot onto the upright – and then, in a personal duel with the Boro man, managed three more saves from him after the break.

Lampard added: “I didn’t have a problem with Ben’s character – that’s a sure thing because of how he is in the dressing room. So I wasn’t worried about that, but I haven’t actually seen him play.

“It was a talking point. When I came in, all three senior keepers had played – and that’s not normal.

“When I thought about putting him in, it was a decision that I felt was the right one and we obviously won the game, so I’m happy.”

Rudoni’s strike just before the interval left Boro, who needed to win to stand any chance of forcing themselves into the end-of-season shake-up, with a mountain to climb.

They made a good fist of it – Wilson was by far the busier of the two keepers – but left themselves increasingly open and a sea of sky blue erupted in joy when the second went in.

Teessiders’ boss Michael Carrick said: “It’s not a nice feeling at all – it’s sickening. It was quiet in the dressing room. The boys were upset and it was horrible to see them like that.

“I know how much they have given. It gets to me. At the end of the day, it’s about people.

“We have to us this as a stepping stone to something bigger.”

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