Haji Wright hat-trick returns Coventry to Championship summit

“We are top of the league,” sang the Coventry City supporters on loop after the club returned to the summit of the Championship with a victory that quelled the nagging noise surrounding Frank Lampard and his promotion-chasing side. Coventry, pace-setters for the majority of the season, had won just four league games since the end of November, but Haji Wright hit a timely hat-trick as Coventry again traded places with Middlesbrough, whose six-game winning run came to an abrupt halt.

The match burst into life early: Wright sent a header against a post inside 99 seconds, rising above Luke Ayling to flick Tatsuhiro Sakamoto’s floated cross, and on 21 minutes Sakamoto twirled clear before finding Jack Rudoni, whose square allowed Wright’s first-time finish to go through the legs of the Boro goalkeeper Sol Brynn.

Coventry doubled their lead after a long clearance from Carl Rushworth bounced awkwardly for Ayling and Wright finished into the far corner.

haji wright, hat-trick, coventry city, championship, frank lampard, middlesbrough, tatsuhiro sakamoto, jack rudoni, luke ayling, sol brynn