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PREMIER League-bound Coventry City secured the Championship title with two games to spare with a thumping home win over Portsmouth, who are now safe from relegation.
Frank Lampard’s men took an early lead when Haji Wright headed in from Jack Rudoni’s right wing corner.
The hosts were gifted a second after the restart when goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid took a heavy touch from a backpass and Ephron Mason-Clark tapped into an empty net.
Things got worse for the visitors when centre-back Regan Poole put Milan van Ewijk’s low cross from the right into his own goal at the near post.
Adrian Segecic pulled one back with a crisp 20-yard finish but Mason-Clark quickly re-established the three-goal lead after being played in by Victor Torp.
The Sky Blues rounded off the scoring in time added on with a cool strike from substitute Kaine Kesler-Hayden.
Despite the result, Pompey fans were also able to celebrate at full-time as results elsewhere confirmed their Championship survival.
Sky Blues end title wait in style
A draw at Blackburn on Friday ended Coventry’s 25-year wait for Premier League football but the players showed they were keen to secure the Championship title to go with promotion.
The Sky Blues last finished top of the second tier in 1967 and this is the first time they have finished top of a completed table since then.
They went up as champions on points-per-game in the Covid-19 curtailed League One season in 2019-20.
Coventry dominated the first half against a Portsmouth side who had won their previous three, including victories over promotion-chasing Middlesbrough and Ipswich, to climb out of the bottom three and but only had Wright’s 19th goal of the season to show for their efforts at the break.
They did not have to wait long after the restart to take total control though as Schmid’s error was punished by Mason-Clark and Poole’s own goal three minutes later ended the match as a contest.
Lampard will have been unhappy with the soft nature of the goal his side conceded though, Rudoni punished for a lax pass in his own half that went straight to Segecic who finished well.
Mason-Clark scored the goal of the night after exchanging passes with Torp and finishing at the near post and then Rudoni’s ball in from the left ran through to former Villa man Kesler-Hayden at the back post to complete an emphatic win right at the end.
With the title now secured Coventry can enjoy a pressure-free home game against Wrexham on Sunday while Portsmouth travel to Stoke on Saturday with their objective of survival also met.
BBCSport
A.I
April 22, 2026
Tags: Ephron Mason-Clark Regan Poole