Frank Lampard hailed a “special” night for Coventry City and was delighted to give the fans what he described as the “night of their lives” after the club confirmed their automatic promotion back to the Premier League.
The Sky Blues had to come from behind against a battling Blackburn Rovers side, with defender Bobby Thomas popping up with a brilliant header from a free-kick six minutes from time to secure the point they needed to get them over the line after 25 long years out of the top flight.
“I was happy with that one,” said the City boss reflecting on the equalising goal that resulted in the away end housing over 7,000 travelling fans at Ewood Park erupting in scenes of jubilation.
“This is a special night for the football club, which is bigger than all of us and I think it can never be more clear than that when you see the fans at the end of the game. A club that has suffered for 25 years in terms of since we’ve been in the Premier League and that journey going down to League Two and to different football clubs and stadiums.
“Credit to everyone involved in those tough years, Mark Robins, of course, I think he has to have a shout out. “But it’s a massive, massive achievement from everyone involved and it’s really special. I’m not for words and it’s been really emotional.
“I wanted to do it away from home a little bit. I know what it’s like to do it this way, it’s the fans that come all the time away from home, and they’re really dedicated fans and they’re having the night of their lives. That’s what we do this job for.”
As for the incredible scenes at the end when the players, staff and even owner Doug King joined in the celebrations and post-match fist pumps, the head coach said: “Yeah, I was waiting for someone to do a more uncomfortable fist pump than me and Doug’s duly obliged. It’s amazing and Doug deserves that centre stage because he’s obviously the figurehead of the football club.
“He’s got a huge passion for it and he’s done a lot of work to get the club where it is. Every player in that squad that’s standing on the pitch has played a part to some degree, and I could sit here and talk about all of them because I’ve seen them. We’re not far off the same group that came together when we arrived and in November, December, the year before last, and they’ve worked hard and they stayed together and they’re playing really incredible football this year.
“We’ve drawn three games just now and we’ve got promoted with three games to go. That just shows you the consistency of this team and the style in which the team’s done it in, which is pretty unique. I think Ipswich did it a couple of years ago in their own circumstances. But what we’ve done to come in from near the bottom of the table and to quickly and five months get to the play-off semi-final and then go, we’re going to go again and we’re going to be the dominant team in the league. That’s credit to the work of everybody.”
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