Coventry City

Coventry City have not yet sealed their promotion to the Premier League but former Sky Blues goalkeeper Steve Ogrizovic has already moved his sights towards the Championship title.

The Sky Blues could be promoted this weekend with a win over basement side Sheffield Wednesday if Millwall and Middlesbrough drop points.

"You don't want to get ahead of yourself but they've been so good this season, so consistent, so resilient, that you can't imagine there will be any slip-ups now," Ogrizovic told BBC Radio CWR.

"They are absolutely certain of promotion, what they need to do now is to try and win the league as well because they've been at the top of the league for so long, they deserve to do it.

"There's been so many great performances. That would just be the end of a perfect season."

Listen to Ogrizovic's full thoughts on BBC Sounds

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Coventry City need only four points from their remaining five games to secure promotion to the Premier League and will fancy their chances of getting three of those at home to relegated Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday (12:30 BST).

The Sky Blues have the best home record in the Championship with 48 points from their 20 matches so far while Wednesday's only victory of their league campaign came at Portsmouth in September.

• Coventry have won five of their past six league games against Sheffield Wednesday, though the exception did come in this exact fixture last season (2-1 defeat).

• Sheffield Wednesday won 2-1 at Coventry last season but have never won consecutive league visits to the Sky Blues before.

• Without their points deduction, Sheffield Wednesday have earned 13 points in the Championship this season, while Coventry have 84. This gap going into the game of 71 points is the second-biggest for a match in Football League history, behind the 74 points separating Liverpool and Huddersfield in April 2019; the Reds won 5-0.

• A failure to win in this game for Sheffield Wednesday would see them have the record for the longest winless run in all competitions by a Football League club. It would be a 37th game without victory, breaking Derby's 36-game record between September 2007 and August 2008. In just the league, it would equal the longest winless run at 36 games, set by Derby and also Macclesfield in October 2018.

• Coventry have won 25 league games this season, their most in a single season. Their 15 home wins are also their most in a season since 1966-67 (17).

Image source, Getty Images

Oxford United's Matt Bloomfield, Tonda Eckert of Southampton, West Brom interim boss James Morrison and Coventry's Frank Lampard have all been nominated for the March Championship manager of the month award.

Bloomfield led Oxford to seven points from their four games last month to give them hope of avoiding relegation from the Championship, while Eckert's Southampton went unbeaten in March - and won at leaders Coventry.

Morrison was handed the task of lifting West Brom clear of the bottom three and took eight points from an unbeaten four-game run.

Coventry have continued their charge towards the Premier League, with Lampard overseeing three wins and just that one blemish in the defeat by Southampton.

Southampton goalkeeper Daniel Peretz and West Brom defender George Campbell are nominated for the player of the month award along with Millwall striker Josh Coburn and Derby defender Matt Clarke.

The winners of both awards will be announced on Friday morning.

Coventry City defender Joel Latibeaudiere says manager Frank Lampard is keeping the players "grounded" as they edge nearer to a Premier League return.

Easter Monday's goalless draw at rivals Hull City leaves the Championship leaders 12 points clear with five games to play.

Due to their vastly superior goal difference, a home win over relegated Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday would all but seal a place in the top flight for the first time in 25 years.

"Our goal is always take one step at a time, and that's how we've approached it throughout the year," said Latibeaudiere.

"I think the staff and the gaffer (Lampard) have been massive keeping us grounded and keeping us working hard in training.

"As I said, mathematically it isn't there. The boys are just focusing on winning as many games as possible, and ending the season as strong as possible."

Monday's draw brought a 15th clean sheet of the season for the Sky Blues' on-loan Brighton goalkeeper Carl Rushworth, and his defence.

"Rushy's been a massive player for us this season," added defender Latibeaudiere. "He should be on more clean sheets in my opinion.

"And to get a clean sheet is more than a goal for a defender, so we're always happy about that and for Rushy.

"It was a hard-earned point. We knew it was going to be tough, especially with the position Hull are in, fighting to get into the top two as well."

Latibeaudiere said any success this season would be as much the fans' triumph as the players' after thousands made the 250-mile round trip to Hull for the game on Easter Monday.

"Ever since I got here, the home and away support has been unbelievable, and there's nothing more to say than 'thank you'. We as a team respect it so much to see the numbers come out.

"Throughout the season, the fans always sell out the away games, sacrificing time and money for that. We have more than respect for the fans. It's our 12th man out there."

Coventry City head coach Frank Lampard spoke to BBC Radio CWR following Monday's goalless draw with Hull City.

"I loved it. It's a clean sheet and point," he said.

"The pitch is really difficult, and not conducive to how we want to play but we had to deal with it.

"And I thought once we rode the early moments of the game, we grabbed it in the first half and started to play a little bit.

"In football, you can't have it all your own way. And when you are under pressure, as we were at different parts of the game, I loved how the team dug in and did all the right things.

"We have five games to go and to be in the position we're in, from our point of view, we need to cut out the noise and just deal with Sheffield Wednesday in front of us.

"Everyone will expect us to win it [Saturday's match against Wednesday] from the outside, but we have to put that to the side and approach the game with real professionalism.

"It may not get us absolutely over the line, but we will know it makes it a lot, lot closer."

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."