Coventry City match reaction from CoventryLive as Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner looks at the big talking points from New Year victory

Coventry City overcame a late deficit to defeat Middlesbrough on New Year’s Day, extending their remarkable unbeaten streak to seven games. Josh Coburn gave the home team a well-earned lead, and the Sky Blues were second best in the first half. However, three minutes later, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto scored the first of his two goals, bringing the team back into the contest.

After the interval, Mark Robins’ team looked like a completely different team as Haji Wright gave them the lead just under an hour in advance of their Japanese forward scoring at the far post to seal the points from City’s second straight away day to the northeast of the holiday season. Here, we go over a few of the major talking points  from the game.

Roundabouts and swings

Because of City’s recent success against the Teessiders—whom they have defeated in their last three games—the traveling Sky Blue Army sang a cheeky tune as the home crowd streamed out of the Riverside. With two of their previous six encounters ending in draws, Coventry has really won four of them, bringing their season total of away victories to four.

The scheduling of City’s match against Boro couldn’t have been better, as Michael Carrick’s team was forced to include a number of inexperienced and youthful players in their matchday squad due to injuries to important players and the loss of two to the Asia Cup. However, not too long ago, Robins was so overworked that he was selecting young players to pad

Tatsu the hero

After bringing his goal total to six in recent weeks and adding another brace at Boro, where he came dangerously near to completing a hat-trick when he banged the post late in the 3-1 victory, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto has solidified his place as a fan favorite.

The Japanese wide player is thriving in a more advanced role and has scored five goals in his last four games, demonstrating his true threat as a goal scorer. He’s playing with genuine assurance, demonstrating with his second goal against Boro that he can score goals with both his head and well-executed attempts from inside and outside the area. He can also efficiently link up with players like Milan van Ewijk and Callum O’Hare in a formidable looking forward line.

Haji nicks one back

After Ellis Simms stole a goal from him at Swansea on Friday night, Haji Wright equaled the score, bringing his season total to eight. Before Simms put the far post header over the line to be awarded with the goal against the Swans, the USA international was denied. In the same manner against Middlesbrough, Wright ensured that Simms’ second-half effort would not go in, there would have been plenty of questions asked.

Simms appeared to see the bright side of the situation and smiled broadly as they celebrated in the goalmouth. And as Robins noted, had they left it and the ball not gone in, both players would have done exactly the right thing each time.

Collins earns his corn

Although coming under the spotlight and criticised for his poor positioning and organisation of the wall for Friday night’s late spoiler from Swansea, Brad Collins more than played his part in this victory with a fine first half performance when he made four key saves to keep City in the game. Had it not been for the goalkeeper’s heroics, Middlesbrough would have been out of sight with a comfortable lead by half-time, such was their dominance and way they cut through City with relative ease.

Half-time talk turns tide

The players’ evident attention to detail in following their instructions during the half and their determination to make up for the mistakes made in the first forty-five minutes was what made the second half so enjoyable. They started the match with a newfound sense of confidence as a few players upped their performances and abruptly imposed themselves on the opposition, putting them on the defensive before seizing the initiative with a second goal.

The game was not dissimilar to the match at Sunderland just before Christmas where City also rode their luck in a difficult first half but went on to run away with a comfortable win in the second. Overall, it’s been an impressive festive period with the Sky Blues taking ten points from a possible 12 from their four games in the space of ten days.

Twelve months on and only two points in it

The Sky Blues begin the New Year in a stronger place than they were a year ago, having surged up to eighth place in the Championship and being just three points outside of the play-off spots. They had two fewer points than they have currently, in 13th position with 35, at this time last year. This season, City has been gaining ground slowly and are well-positioned to continue their upward trend in the second half of the competition and finish in the top six once more.

Although there is still a lot of football to be played, things are starting to come together well. The squad is certainly stronger this season, even without players the caliber of Viktor Gyokeres and Gus Hamer, and the summer additions look pretty good. It remains to be seen if it will be sufficient to push them over the finish line for another play-off campaign, but City has a timely chance to spend some money to acquire some proven talent to help them along in January.