Party time for Frank Lampard’s Sky Blues! Coventry City end 25-YEAR Premier League exile with a 1-1 draw at Blackburn after dramatic late equaliser

Coventry City sealed a thrilling return to the Premier League after 25 years of exile thanks to an 84th-minute equalizer at Blackburn from defender Bobby Thomas.

Frank Lampard’s men needed just one point but for much of this wild night at Ewood Park it looked like they would have to keep the champagne on ice for another day after Ryoya Morishita had put Blackburn ahead.

But Thomas’ header, which saw the ball deflect towards Blackburn’s goal, helped complete a remarkable tale of redemption. A roving army of 7,500 fans chanted his name for several minutes after this emphatic header and then threw a rave party well beyond its time.

Lampard had a gigawatt smile on his face as he told Sky Sports: ‘This is amazing. ‘The fan base, the experiences, the disappointments, the moments.’

Then his voice cracked: ‘Getting promoted to a non-parachute club and seeing the kids there makes me emotional. It’s so great to work with them. They deserve every moment of celebration.

‘I’m proud. I’m proud of myself and my team. We entered a little bit of the unknown. We fell in love with the players and the fan base and how they responded. Here’s what I’ve achieved; I won the Champions League with Chelsea.

Frank Lampard punches the crowd after receiving his first promotion as manager

Bobby Thomas scored the equalizing header in the 85th minute to give Coventry the point they needed to draw 1-1

‘But we’re overachieving here. Automatic promotion was not in our plan.’

The last few decades have been tumultuous for the Sky Blues, who were a League Two team as recently as 2018.

They have had four stadiums since leaving Highfield Road in 2005, and at one stage were playing 34 miles away at Northampton’s Sixfields Stadium.

This was because Coventry’s owners, SISU Capital, were in a rent dispute with the local council, which owned their stadium, then called the Ricoh Arena. Attendance fell below 2,000 and some watched the action from a hill overlooking Sixfields in protest.

Coventry lost tens of millions of pounds during SISU’s tenure between 2007 and 2023.

However, the club’s fortunes have turned around since Doug King bought a majority stake in the club in January 2023 and immediately paid off all its debts.

He then ended concerns about the long-term future by purchasing the club’s stadium from Mike Ashley for £50 million last August. Their contract at CBS Arena was set to expire at the end of the 2027-28 season.

King was unable to give any definitive assurances about Lampard’s future, saying afterwards: ‘Frank has done an incredible job. He threw himself into the Arena in November 2024 and didn’t know how it would go. He liked the project. Look what he did. ‘He’s a very talented coach, he’s articulate, he’s clever and intelligent. He learned a lot with us, and I learned from him. I hope this continues.’

But long-term thinking can wait for another day. King had been in the locker room all day, soaked in champagne as the players danced around.

They have been the top man in the Championship in recent years, losing the 2023 play-off final to Luton on penalties and being knocked out by Sunderland in the semi-finals last season.

Players partied wildly after helping the club complete a remarkable redemption story

They wore ‘we’re back’ t-shirts to celebrate their return to the big time after fans promised years ago they would return

Blackburn or Benidorm? Some fans went topless on the cold Lancashire evening, it was pure joy

That’s what it meant for fans who supported the League Two club as recently as 2018.

Now his tears became tears of joy. They came into the game in a spirit of enthusiasm and goalkeeper Carl Rushworth had to pop a giant balloon that was launched onto the pitch immediately after kick-off.

But the home side were in no mood to roll out the red carpet and they almost took the lead early on when Yuki Ohashi ghosted in behind the Coventry backline and nearly curled a header past Rushworth.

Blackburn created the better chances in the first half but were rewarded only after the break, when Morishita’s shot looped over Thomas and deflected into Coventry’s goal.

As Morishita celebrated wildly – the draw moved Blackburn five points clear of the bottom three – Lampard’s face turned to stone.

The Chelsea legend faced a formidable trio of top scorer Haji Wright, Victor Torp and Romain Esse but it looked like no one could beat Rovers centre-back Balasz Toth.

Jack Rudoni, Lampard’s attacking midfielder, smashed a strike into the rooftop net and his header hit the post. Wright fired a soft volley into Toth’s arms.

It looked like it wasn’t going to happen for the league leaders until their 26th set-piece goal of the season put an end to the euphoria. After the free kick, Thomas raced over the crowd and past Toth to write his name into Coventry history.

‘It was perfect,’ he thought. After a quarter of a century of waiting, it really happened. Coventry’s players roamed the pitch like heroes and were well on their way to becoming club legends as they partied in the dressing room.