Half an hour of hope, then nothing
Coventry were the better side for the opening half hour. That is the cruel part of it.
Jack Rudoni met a cross at the far post approaching the half-hour and Bart Verbruggen threw a hand at it. Three minutes later Frank Onyeka lined up a volley and Verbruggen tipped that one over as well. The Sky Blues were chasing their first Premier League goal since 2001 and for a short while this afternoon it looked like the wait might end.
Then Charalampos Kostoulas reached a bouncing ball inside the area before anyone in sky blue, nudged it into his stride and beat Carl Rushworth. Ten minutes before the break, 1-0, and the noise inside the Coventry Building Society Arena drained out of the place.
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Awoniyi loses his head
Malick Yalcouye settled the argument six minutes after the restart, carrying the ball through the middle and finishing without fuss. What came next was worse for the hosts. Taiwo Awoniyi, signed in the summer to fix Coventry’s scoring problem, swung an elbow into the face of Maxime De Cuyper and walked.
Brighton showed no interest in easing off. Bobby Thomas caught Kostoulas in the box and Pascal Gross put the penalty away. Lewis Dunk then hit one from 25 yards into the top corner, the sort of strike a centre-half manages twice a decade. Yasin Ayari curled a fifth past Rushworth four minutes into stoppage time.
The numbers behind the rout
Brighton had 69 percent of the ball, 22 shots to Coventry’s 14 and a pass accuracy of 90 percent against 71. Fabian Hurzeler’s side climb to fourth with seven points from four matches.
Coventry have played four, lost four, scored none. Arsenal away, Hull at home, Manchester City away, and now a five-goal beating in front of their own supporters. Frank Lampard had already watched his side lose the winnable one, the home game against Hull, and the fixture list has not been kind since.
There was an early warning too. Jay Dasilva made a mess of a clearance inside six minutes and the ball dropped for Diego Gomez, who dragged his shot wide from 12 yards. Coventry survived that one. They did not survive much else.
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