Coventry 4-1 Newcastle: Sky Blues end long wait for home Premier League win in style

City of Coventry achieved their first home Premier League win since 2001 when they won Newcastle United 4-1 at CBS Arena.

Having beaten Nottingham Forest 1-0 before the international break, Coventry made a dream start to their return to action as Lukas Hornicek’s mistake allowed Jack Rudoni to open the scoring from the penalty spot in the sixth minute.

Newcastle dictated proceedings for long spells afterwards but fell further behind as Coventry started the second half with a bang, with Sidiki Cherif doubling their lead.

A Sven Botman strike gave Newcastle hope of at least a point, but Simms’ deflected effort from Ellis made the points safe for Coventry, before Stephen Mfuni brightened the scoring when he fired in off the post as the Sky Blues sealed their first home win since a 1-0 victory over Sunderland in April 2001.

The tone of the night was set when Hornicek failed to pick up a loose ball in the penalty area under pressure from Ephron Mason-Clark. Trying to rally, he was beaten by Cherif, who fell under the Czech international’s challenge.

Referee John Brooks showed little hesitation in calling the spot, and Rudoni made no mistake, sending Hornicek the wrong way to break the deadlock.

Barnes had the first chance for Newcastle, who started the game 11th in the Premier League but with a chance of going fourth with a win, but spurned a chance to equalize after good work down the left from Matias Fernández-Pardo, firing straight at Carl Rushworth.

Belgium striker Fernandez-Pardo looked the most likely to level things up before the break, but saw several promising chances to go begging as Newcastle dominated after going behind.

Fernandez-Pardo strangely handled the ball at the near post instead of trying to turn home Jacob Murphy’s right-footed cross, then was denied the chance to nod in from the goal line by a brilliant piece of goal-line defending by Bobby Thomas.

Coventry again thanked Thomas when Fernandez-Pardo was played through on goal and rounded Rushworth, only to see his effort on goal blocked by the recovering centre-back.

And Newcastle were punished for not taking those chances three minutes into the second half when, after the visitors failed to deal with a long throw-in, Cherif produced an unerring snap shot from the edge of the area that flew into the bottom-right corner.

Cherif then spurned a great chance to make it 3-0 after some terrible defending from Botman, before Joe Willock was guilty of an equally bad miss at the other end as he fired after some good build-up play sent it in at the near post.

However, Newcastle found a lifeline in spectacular fashion, centre-back Botman, the unlikely source, as he powered a stunning strike from the edge of the box that left Rushworth with no chance.

At the time, a comeback looked the most likely outcome as the Magpies pushed forward in search of an equaliser, but their lack of accuracy in the final third proved costly as Simms pounced after Lewis Hall lost the ball in his own half, his strike taking a huge deflection off Malick Thiaw and wronging a defenseless Hornicek.

That proved the emphatic blow, but there was still more to celebrate for Frank Lampard’s men as Mfuni scored a brilliant fourth to cap a night that will live long in Coventry’s memory.

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