Coventry City

Coventry City boss Frank Lampard spoke to BBC CWR following their thrilling 3-2 win over Derby County.

"It was hard earned and well earned. I felt it was a big test for us, against a good team in good form, play-off form, fighting for that we're fighting for," he said.

"I'm delighted with the boys, they dealt with the game that was in front of them and, yeah, it's a big win."

On two-goal hero Jack Rudoni: "I said, 'are you ready for half an hour?' and he said 'I'm ready for more than that'.

"The biggest thing is not just his talent, but his hunger to come in and do stuff with his team. The first goal was incredible and then the other goal is a clinical finish. I loved it."

Image source, Getty Images

Coventry having players returning from international duty a day before they host Derby in the Championship (20:00 BST) is 'far from ideal,' according to boss Frank Lampard.

Defender Joel Latibeaudiere and forward Ephron Mason-Clark only landed back in England on Thursday morning after playing for Jamaica in their two World Cup play-off matches in Mexico.

"It's far from ideal that we're playing on Friday night with them travelling back. Practically it's very difficult and we'll have to check how they are," Lampard told BBC CWR.

"It's good for them to play for their countries clearly but the need for us to play on a Friday, and I know it's a traditional Easter weekend, but these World Cup qualifiers and friendlies so close to our game it's a lot of travel."

Jamaica beat New Caledonia 1-0 in Guadalajara last Friday in their play-off semi-final before losing to DR Congo by the same scoreline, after extra-time on Tuesday with Latibeaudiere playing 90 minutes in both games while Mason-Clark started the first and played 16 minutes as a substitute in the second.

Coventry are nine points clear at the top of the Championship table and after meeting Derby on Friday, visit promotion-chasing Hull City on Monday (20:00 BST).

"Clearly two big players for us in Joel and Ephron coming back the day before the game from two different connecting flights from Mexico is not ideal," Lampard added.

"They're our players and want to get back and play but it's very difficult so we'll see (how they are)."

Image source, Getty Images

Championship clubs spent just over £69.5m on agents fees over the past 12 months according to figures released by the Football Association,, external an increase of £6m on the previous year.

The figures cover the period from February 2025 with Ipswich Town the top spenders, paying £11.7m having spent the first three months of the accounting period in the Premier League.

Southampton (£8.3m) and Leicester (£5.8m), who were relegated alongside Ipswich are the second and third-highest payers on the list.

Troubled Sheffield Wednesday were the most frugal when dealing with agents, spending £534,559.

Wrexham come in sixth on the list with an outlay of £3.6m while current Championship leaders Coventry spent just short of £1.5m.

Championship agents' fee spending, external

• Ipswich - £11,738,920

• Southampton - £8,381,358

• Leicester City - £5,866,587

• Sheffield United - £5,005,498

• Norwich - £4,020,206

• Wrexham - £3,660,584

• Swansea - £3,088,645

• Middlesbrough - £2,900,314

• Bristol City - £2,774,990

• Hull City - £2,450,431

• Stoke City - £2,088,886

• Birmingham City - £1,996,502

• Millwall - £1,982,348

• Preston North End - £1,831,233

• QPR - £1,829,036

• Watford - £1,612,833

• Coventry - £1,497,990

• Derby - £1,409,507

• West Brom - £1,346,030

• Oxford - £1,235,536

• Charlton - £904,698

• Portsmouth - £831,818

• Blackburn - £676,980

• Sheffield Wednesday - £534,559

Image source, Opta

Championship leaders Coventry City could take another big step towards the Premier League when they host play-off hopefuls Derby County on Friday night (kick-off 20:00 BST).

The Sky Blues are nine points clear of second-placed Middlesbrough and 11 clear of Ipswich in third, albeit having played one game more than the Tractor Boys.

Frank Lampard's side have won seven of their past eight games (L1) and need 13 more points from their final seven matches to guarantee promotion.

The Rams are in impressive form themselves with four wins in their past five games and are three points behind the top six going into this round of fixtures.

• Following their 5-3 win in August, Coventry are looking to complete the league double over Derby for the first time since 2003-04.

• Derby won this exact fixture 2-1 last season, last winning consecutive away league games against Coventry in March/December 1988.

• Coventry have won seven of their past eight league games. The exception in that run was their last home game against Southampton – the Sky Blues haven't lost consecutively at home since September 2024.

• Derby have won nine away games in the Championship this season, last winning more on the road in a second tier campaign in 2013-14 (11).

• Derby's Lars-Jørgen Salvesen is averaging a goal or an assist every 83 minutes in the Championship this season (3 goal, 2 assists in 416 minutes), the best rate of any player to play 400+ minutes.

Image source, Getty Images

Coventry City forward Ephron Mason-Clark made his international debut for Jamaica as they moved within one game of qualifying for this year's World Cup.

The 26-year-old started the 1-0 win over New Caledonia in Guadalajara.

Jamaica won the game with an 18th-minute goal from Wrexham forward Bailey Cadamarteri after they had finished second in their qualifying group to Curacao to miss out on automatic qualification

Mason-Clark's Coventry team-mate Joel Latibeaudiere also started the game, with the Reggae Boyz needing to beat DR Congo in next Tuesday's play-off final at the same Akron Stadium to qualify for the finals in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

The pressure in professional sport is huge. For the Championship promotion contenders it is that time of the season when the gauge is in the red.

Coventry City, nine points clear at the top, are dealing with not only the weight of finishing the job off but also the burden of ending the club's 25-year wait to return to the top flight.

How they deal with that pressure will be crucial and one player who has been working on that is key midfielder Victor Torp who has revealed he has been using a mind coach to help.

So what does a mind coach do? What aspects do they work on? And how might it help improve performance?

"The main thing we're trying going to do is keep them consistent in what their approaches are and help them go into a performance environment as confident as possible," Phil Clarke, a sports sports psychologist at the University of Derby, told BBC CWR.

"When we're under a lot of pressure, whether it's a big outcome at stake, we often try to change things to maximise our chances of success.

"But actually what ends up doing is we overthink it. We start doing things that we don't normally do.

"Hesitation starts to creep in. So it's just trying to give them confidence to just continue doing what they're doing and keep moving forward."

Image source, Shutterstock

Clarke added footballers feel nerves "just like any other person" before a match but helps them use their experience of performing under pressure and in front of crowds "to help remind them, help ground them" because "it's very easy to keep looking at what if we win this, we'll get this and that gets us into the Premier League".

When the Sky Blues had that wobble at the start of 2026 as their 10-point lead disappeared, boss Frank Lampard spoke about "correcting the negatives" and "promoting what we've done" and Clarke agreed that is a key strategy.

"When it comes to your mindset, you want to be able to, when the pressure's on, trust your ability," he said. "And that trust comes from years of work on that side of your game.

"Often the best performers in the world have that added aspect of knowing how to perform under pressure - that is why they work on their mindset.

"Every human being is different. It's not like you apply the exact same process every time. It's about understanding what works for that individual to get them into that ideal performance zone."

Matt Grimes says he felt the love of the Coventry fans as he helped the Sky Blues to a vital win at his former club Swansea.

The 30-year-old midfielder spent a decade at the Swans, making more than 300 appearances and captaining the side for five years before moving to Coventry in January 2025.

He was heckled by some sections of the home support on Saturday but when he put the visitors 2-0 up shortly before half-time, he raised his hands in apology and did not celebrate the goal.

He told BBC CWR: "It was strange, I obviously spent a long time here so it was strange being in the away dressing room.

"It was good to get on the scoresheet but the main thing was the three points. I thought the lads were brilliant, it was the perfect away performance."

On his lack of celebration, he added: "I have got a lot of love for (Swansea), I spent a good chunk of my years here, they gave me a lot, so out of respect for the club and the people, I felt it was right not to."

He thanked the travelling fans for their support however, adding: "The amount of love I got from the fans was outstanding and I can't thank them enough, they were brilliant from minute one to minute 90.

"I know they will be with us for the rest of the campaign; we just keep going."

The Sky Blues have a nine-point cushion at the top of the table with seven games to play, with third-placed Ipswich 11 points back, albeit with a game in hand.

Grimes insisted "nothing is done yet", adding: "We've obviously put ourselves in a brilliant position. We just need to keep our levels as high as possible, as they have been all season, to get us over the line.

"We just have to keep going - ticking them off. It's (all about) the next game."

Coventry boss Frank Lampard was delighted with the discipline of his team as they won at Swansea to take another big step towards promotion to the Premier League.

"You can't get more professional, you can't get more tactically on point from the players - they [Swansea] are a good team, high pressing, rotations, the want to move ball and play through you," he told BBC CWR.

"We dealt with every aspect of the game from start to finish, we went a bit more direct early on to miss out the press, but as as soon as we could get the ball down, we did - and we were clinical in front of goal, defended our box.

"The tactical discipline was brilliant, it was a good day and a great performance by the lads."

The three goals came in the space of 11 minutes before half-time, and they were able to play out the second half to earn a clean sheet.

"It gives you a great feeling in the game, that you can start to play and the handling of the second half for me was outstanding as well," said Lampard.

Matt Grimes was one of Coventry's scorers against his former club and kept his celebrations low key.

"I've had it myself, when you come back to your old club you try to make it a positive pressure but it's not easy - and he played here for 10 years," Lampard added.

"I'm delighted he got his goal, he fully deserved it."

Coventry have a nine-point lead with seven games remaining - the next at home to Derby County on Friday 3 April, following the international break.

Coventry City boss Frank Lampard is happy with the options he has up front in the absence of top scorer Haji Wright.

The 27-year-old suffered a groin injury in last weekend's defeat by Southampton and has not travelled for international duty with the USA.

Ellis Simms or Brandon Thomas-Asante is expected to take Wright's place leading Coventry's attack at Swansea on Saturday (17:15 GMT).

"It's an opportunity for Ellis, and Brandon potentially as he's played that role as well," Lampard told BBC CWR.

"All those players have given us a lot this year in their own way. It's one of the reasons why our goals record is what it is, so it's credit to them when an injury to Haji comes along."

Coventry are the EFL's leading scorers with 78 goals so far this season and they head the Championship table by seven points with eight games remaining.

"It's one of the reasons why you need two and a half or three players for the number nine role because if you only have two and one is injured you're really worried about the other one which, is why Brandon is so useful with his versatility," he added.

"Ellis has trained really well this season - his attitude and approach and his development and how he's playing, I see it every day on the training ground so if he gets a chance now we're happy with that."

Listen to more Coventry City content and interviews on BBC Sounds.

Image source, Opta

After their promotion rivals slog it out earlier in the day, Coventry have the chance to tighten their grip on top spot as they head to Swansea on Saturday evening (17:15 GMT).

The Sky Blues go into the weekend with a seven-point lead in the Championship title race and a nine-point cushion in the quest for automatic promotion, with eight games to play.

They will seek to bounce back from last Saturday's home defeat to Southampton on the road at Swansea, who just about remain on the fringes of the play-off race.

The Swans went down 2-0 at Wrexham last Friday, their third defeat in four on the road, but their home form is in stark contrast and, depending on results elsewhere, a fifth win in six in front of their own fans could haul them within five points of the top-six.

• Swansea have lost their past two league games against Coventry – they last lost three in a row against them in a run of five between 1938 and 1947.

• After a 1-0 win in the reverse fixture this season, Coventry can do the league double over Swansea for the first time since 1946-47, also in the second tier.

• Since the start of December 2025, no team have won more points in Championship home games than Swansea (26 – level with Ipswich), going unbeaten in all 10 in this period (W8 D2).

• Coventry lost at home to Southampton last time out, while they have only suffered back-to-back defeats in the Championship once across their past 38 matches (January this year, v Norwich and QPR).

• Zan Vipotnik has been directly involved in 19 goals in the Championship this season (17 goals, 2 assists), with Joel Piroe in 2022-23 (21) the last Swansea player to reach 20+ in a league campaign.

Image source, Getty Images

There have been plenty of contentious decisions in the 2025-26 Championship season so far.

Offside goals given, perfectly good goals ruled out, red card offences missed, penalties not given, dubious spot-kicks awarded. You name it.

With the video assistant referee (VAR) only used for the play-off final, the outcome of every second-tier game in the regular season can hinge on how on-field officials see incidents in real time.

• Would you want VAR introduced for every league game in the Championship?

• If so, why?

• And if not, let us know your reasons.

You can share your thoughts on VAR here or comment below, and we will publish a follow-up article soon with a selection of your responses.