Coventry City and Frank Lampard will not be joining Leeds United in the Premier League next season after suffering heartbreak in their play-off semi-final against Sunderland.
Coventry trailed 2-1 on aggregate going into the second leg at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday night. The Sky Blues drew level in the tie through Ephron Mason-Clark to take the game to extra time.
As the additional 30 minutes ticked by, it looked as though the tie would be decided on penalties. That was until Sunderland defender Dan Ballard scored from a corner in the second minute of added time to send Sunderland through 3-2 on aggregate.
The goal sparked scenes of wild celebration around the stadium. Lampard was left comforting his players on the pitch at the full-time whistle, with there being an incident with a Sunderland pitch invader.
The Black Cats will now take on Sheffield United in the play-off final at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, 24 May. The Blades came out as 6-0 aggregate winners over Bristol City in their semi-final clash in what was a more comfortable affair.
The winners will join Leeds and Burnley in the Premier League in the 2025/26 season.
Leeds academy graduate Harry Gray appears to have shown his feelings on the outcome of the game. The forward has ‘liked’ a post by Sportbible on Instagram that shows images of Ballard’s celebration as well as a glum-looking Lampard.
The post caption mentions the late goal and the ‘heartbreak’ for Lampard and Coventry City.
Lampard has history in the play-offs, with his Derby County team beating Leeds in the semi-final in 2019. The game was on the back of the Spygate, where a member of Leeds’ staff was accused of spying on Derby’s preparations ahead of the fixture between the two sides the previous January.
It sparked somewhat of a rivalry between the two clubs and between Leeds and Lampard. Derby went on to lose the final 2-0 against Aston Villa.
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