Championship side Coventry are back to the Premier League for the first time in 25 years following a 1-1 against Blackburn Rovers on Friday.
Coming into the game, the Chelsea legend Frank Lampard-led team only needed one point to secure a promotion back to English football top flight and Blackburn made the visitors worked for the result.
After a goalless first half, Ryoya Morishita put Blackburn ahead nine minutes into the second half to shut thousands of Coventry fans inside the Ewood Park up.
Despite unrelenting efforts by Coventry, it looked like the celebration might be postponed until next week but Bobby Thomas equalised for the league leaders six minutes from time to secure the promotion as jubilation erupted in the away end.
After last playing in the Premier League since the 2000/01 campaign, the Sky Blues will feature in the top division next season in a remarkable turnaround under Lampard, who took over when Coventry were two points above relegation zone.
“To go and get promotion automatically as a non-parachute [payment] team with three games to go… these boys have managed to achieve something special and unique. This is what it’s about. Coming here and getting a point at this stage isn’t easy,” Lampard told Sky Sports after the match.
He added, “Doing this after 25 years… wow. The resilience to come back after losing in the play-offs (last season to Sunderland). We spoke in the summer about what we could do this season and whether we could finish third or fourth to get a home play-off in the second game which we didn’t do last year. It’s such a good feeling that the boys have managed to get it over the line.”
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