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

Coventry City claimed their first home Premier League win since 2001 as they beat Newcastle United 4-1 at the CBS Arena.

Having overcome Nottingham Forest 1-0 before the international break, Coventry were gifted a dream start on their return to action as Lukas Hornicek’s error allowed Jack Rudoni to break the deadlock from the penalty spot in the sixth minute.

Newcastle dictated proceedings for long periods thereafter but fell further behind as Coventry made a lightning start to the second half, with Sidiki Cherif doubling their lead.

A rasping strike from Sven Botman gave Newcastle hope of claiming at least a point, but Ellis’ Simms deflected effort made the points safe for Coventry, before Stephen Mfuni added gloss to the scoreline when he fired in off the post, the Sky Blues sealing their first home top-flight win since a 1-0 victory over Sunderland in April 2001 in style.

The tone for the evening was set when Hornicek failed to gather a loose ball in the penalty area under pressure from Ephron Mason-Clark. In attempting to regather he was beaten to it by Cherif, who went tumbling under the Czechia international’s challenge.

Referee John Brooks showed little hesitation in pointing to 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 the chance to go fourth with a win, but spurned the opportunity to equalise following good work down the left from Matias Fernandez-Pardo, firing straight at Carl Rushworth.

Belgium forward Fernandez-Pardo looked the likeliest to level matters before half-time, but saw several promising chances to do so go begging as Newcastle dominated after going behind.

Fernandez-Pardo bizarrely dummied the ball at the near post instead of attempting to turn home from Jacob Murphy’s right-wing cross, and then was denied the chance to nod in from point-blank range by a brilliant piece of goal-line defending from Bobby Thomas.

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

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

Cherif then spurned a gilt-edged chance to make it 3-0 after dreadful defending from Botman, before Joe Willock was guilty of a similarly bad miss at the other end as he blazed over after neat build-up play sent him in at the near post.

Yet Newcastle did find a lifeline in spectacular fashion, centre-back Botman the unlikely source as he powered home a stunning strike from the edge of the area that left Rushworth with no chance.

At that point a comeback appeared the most likely outcome as the Magpies poured forward in search of a leveller, but their lack of precision in the final third proved costly as Simms pounced after Lewis Hall lost the ball deep in his own half, his strike taking a big deflection of Malick Thiaw and wrong footing a helpless Hornicek.

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

The Premier League Table

Upcoming fixtures for Coventry and Newcastle

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