Coventry City 3-1 Middlesbrough: Boro fall to agonising defeat in the clash for top spot

Coventry edged past an in-form Middlesbrough side in a vital top-of-the-table clash in the EFL Championship on Monday night.

Haji Wright’s hat-trick was only matched by a second-half goal from Riley McGree at the CBS Arena, which saw Coventry reclaim top spot.

Boro went into the game of the back of six consecutive league wins, last losing in the league on New Year’s Day.

The game began with a real energy and Coventry almost took the lead with barely two minutes played.

Tatsuhito Sakamoto’s whipped cross found Wright in the box and his header came off the post from close range.

It wasn’t long until Coventry’s blistering start saw them take a deserved lead with just over 20 minutes played.

Sakamoto danced past a couple of tackles just outside the box before playing Jack Rudoni into the box, whose cross found Wright in space and he comfortably slotted it through the legs of Brynn.

Wright doubled Coventry’s lead on the night when Carl Rushworth’s long kick looped over the heads of Luke Ayling and Adilson Malanda for the American, who easily shrugged the retreating defenders off before coolly placing his shot past Brynn.

Middlesbrough almost got themselves back into the game with half an hour still to play, when Jeremy Sarmiento’s curling strike from just inside the box left Rushworth stranded as it rifled off the far post and across the face of goal.

Only a couple minutes later, Boro’s period of possession saw them half Coventry’s lead when McGree’s strike from inside the box found the back of the net.

However, 17 seconds from the restart, Coventry were handed a penalty after Matt Targett handled the ball in the penalty area from Josh Eccles’ cross.

Wright stepped up and earned himself a hat-trick, whipping the ball into the corner of the goal.

Hellberg’s side attempted to fight back when a defence-cutting ball from Ayling found substitute David Strelec, but his shot was easily saved by Rushworth.

The Teessiders return back to the Riverside to play relegation-threatened Oxford United this Saturday at 3pm.