Coventry City's Amadou Bakayoko celebrates the 5-4 win at Sunderland in 2019
Coventry City's Amadou Bakayoko celebrates the 5-4 win at Sunderland in 2019
Coventry City have had some memorable matches over the last nine years as the club have risen from the depths of League Two to the Premier League.
One of the many that stand out is the 5-4 victory over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light – a humdinger of a clash back in April 2019 between the two then League One sides.
In an incredible see-saw of a game, the Sky Blues bagged an early lead to stun Black Cats’ fans, with Bright Enobakhare finding the back of the net in the 12th minute, only for George Honeyman to pull level three minutes later in the 15th.
Amadou Bakayoko then restored City’s lead in the 18th before Jordy Hiwula added a third on 25 minutes to make it 3-1 to the visitors.
However, the home side pulled two back before the break with Charlie Wyke scoring on 41 minutes before Will Grigg secured an equaliser on the stroke of half-time to send the teams in all square at 3-3.
Jordan Shipley restored City’s lead in the 55th minute, only for Max Power to make it 4-4 in the 69th minute of a crazy, end to end encounter in the North East where the Sky Blue Army had the last laugh when Conor Chaplin stepped off the bench to score the winner 12 minutes from time.
Ever wondered what happened to that team? From the Conference North to the Scottish Prem, from the Championship to Japan’s second division and a wasted talent last spotted in Qatar, here are what City’s starting XI and stars of that epic 2019 showdown are doing now.
Lee Burge
A product of the Sky Blues Academy, the goalkeeper played 160 games for Coventry including two trips to Wembley where he helped the club win the Checkatrade Trophy and League Two play-off final in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
He moved to then League One Sunderland on a free transfer in 2019, playing just short of 50 league games for the Black Cats before joining Northampton Town at the end of his two year contract. He played 113 games for the Cobblers over a four year spell, initially in League Two and then three seasons in League One before last month joining Salford on a free.
Now 33, Burgey is currently understudy to Will Norris for the fourth tier side, for whom he’s played one Football League Trophy game to date.
Dujon Sterling
One of Adi Viveash’s former Chelsea youth players, Sterling joined City on loan from Stamford Bridge initially as a controversial replacement for the popular Jack Grimmer. After a reasonably successful season-long loan when he played 40 times as City finished eighth in League One, he went on to further his development on loan at Wigan, Blackpool and Stoke before finally being released by the Blues and joining Rangers on a free transfer in the summer of 2023. He made 36 appearances for the Scottish Premier side in his first campaign, 34 in his second and 17 in his third. Now aged 26, he remains a regular in the side and was part of the team that did a cup and league double over arch rivals Celtic last month, thumping the Hoops 3-0 in the Scottish League Cup in front of 51,000 at Ibrox and then helping Gers to a 1-0 league win at Celtic Park before the international break.
Dom Hyam
Joining from Reading’s development squad in the summer of 2017, the classy centre-back quickly established himself in the first team at Coventry and went on to be one of Mark Robins’ best central defenders, helping the club gain promotion in the League Two play-off final win over Exeter at Wembley in 2018 and then automatic promotion as Champions of League One in 2020. Then, after helping the Sky Blues get a foothold in the Championship and establishing the club as an upwardly mobile unit in the second tier, he was sold against the manager’s wishes for £1.5m to balance the books in August 2022, to Blackburn Rovers. Three years later he left Ewood Park and joined Wrexham for an undisclosed fee in 2025, and the 30-year-old continues to be a mainstay of the side.
Tom Davies
The no-nonsense centre-back signed from Portsmouth in 2017 as Mark Robins put together a squad to start climbing back up the pyramid and going on to play 50 times over two seasons, first in League Two and then League One. He then joined Bristol Rovers on a free and then onto Tranmere, again on a free, having had a loan spell at Barrow in League Two in between. His four years at Tranmere ended in 2025 when he dropped to the Football Conference South with Salisbury FC before switching to the Conference North with Chester halfway through the campaign. Now aged 34, he’s at Conference North side Radcliffe Boro.
Brandon Mason
The left-back joined City from then Premier League Watford on a free transfer, playing 46 games over two seasons before a brief loan move to St Mirren. Released by City, he went on to join League One MK Dons on a short term contract until the end of the 2021/20 season but didn’t make an appearance before moving to League Two Crawley Town on a two year deal. He then dropped down to the National League with Wealdstone in October 2023 and then on to National League South side St Albans City in January 2025. Now aged 29, he plays for Southern League Premier Division South side Farnham Town.
Luke Thomas
The rapid winger joined City on loan from Derby County and enjoyed an eye-catching season, making 41 starts (2 sub) and scoring four goals in League One. There was talk of trying to sign him but he joined Championship Barnsley for an undisclosed fee instead. He had a brief spell on loan at Ipswich back in League One before being loaned out to Bristol Rovers in League Two – a move that turned into a permanent contract in the summer of 2023. After over 140 appearances for The Pirates, he switched to St Mirren in the Scottish Prem where, aged 27, he’s made eight substitute appearances to date.
Bright Enobakhare celebrates with Luke Thomas (left) after scoring against Gillingham in League One
Bright Enobakhare celebrates with Luke Thomas (left) after scoring against Gillingham in League One
Liam Kelly
We all know the story of our beloved Kels, who joined in the summer of 2017 and spent seven mostly glorious years gaining legendary status as he helped the club to two promotions and a Championship play-off final. He eventually left on a free to join League One Rotherham for two seasons before this summer hanging up his boots at the age of 36 and returning to Coventry to take charge of the Under-21s development squad.
Jordan Shipley
The ever popular Sky Blues Academy graduate fulfilled his boyhood dream of playing for his home-town club, playing over 170 games and scoring 20 goals over a six year spell, including some pretty spectacular efforts from the edge of the box. In May 2022 he was released and joined Shrewsbury Town in League One, playing over 120 games and scoring 16 times over three years. He had a season at Port Vale last year before joining League Two Cheltenham Town in the summer. Now 29, Shippers has played ten games so far this term.
Jordy Hiwula
The tricky forward joined the Sky Blues in 2018 amid much excitement from Championship Huddersfield Town for an undisclosed fee, having started out at Manchester City’s academy. He scored 14 goals in 54 league One appearances as one of those players who looked the business one week and struggled to get going the next. A journeyman player with 15 clubs to his name, Hiwula had two seasons with City before being released and joining Portsmouth, also in League One. He then moved on a free to Doncaster Rovers (L1) for a season before moving north of the border to join Ross County for three years in the Scottish Prem. That included a loan spell at League Two Morecambe before joining National League Boston in the summer of 2025. But after seven goals in 39 league games he moved to Gateshead, also of the National League, for whom he’s scored one goal in seven so far with the club rooted to the foot of the table.
Jordy Hiwula who is seen here celebrating scoring for Coventry City
Happier times for Jordy Hiwula who is seen here celebrating scoring for Coventry City against Bradford City in April 2019
Bright Enobakhare
The enigmatic Enobakhare joined then League One Sky Blues in January 2019 on loan from Wolves, quickly becoming a fan favourite with his nifty footwork and eye for goal, scoring six times in 18 short but sweet league appearances. Attempts were made to sign him but he opted to join Championship Wigan instead, albeit the move was a disaster as he managed just two showings from the bench. Having been released by Wolves, he signed for AEK Athens in the Greek Super League, scoring in a 3-0 win on his one and only appearance for the club. By October he had mutually dissolved his contract. Enobakhare then joined Indian Super League side East Bengal for the remainder of 2020–21 season before returning to Coventry that summer on a free. However, despite signing a two year deal, he made just one start, playing just over an hour in a 2-1 league cup defeat to Northampton in early August but his contract was cancelled by mutual consent in the November.
He then switched to Hapoel Jerusalem in January 2022 but was later released in April due to missing training. One game with Rukh Lviv in the Ukrainian top flight followed in 2022/23 and he was last heard of playing for Al Bidda of the Qatari Second Division, although no stats are shown beyond the summer of 2025.
Talk about a wasted talent! At the age of 28 he’s made 94 senior appearances and scored 13 goals, almost half of which were for the Sky Blues.
Amadou Bakayoko
They sang, “Twenty goals, twenty goals, Bakayoko...” when he pulled on the Sky Blues shirt but the big centre-forward is yet to achieve that feat in his career. Joining for an undisclosed fee from Walsall in the summer of 2018, he scored 11 times in 68 league showings for the club before switching to Bolton on a free and on to Forest Green Rovers. He was then loaned out to Dundee in the Scottish Premier in 2023/24 before joining Japanese side Consadole Sapporo in the J1 league. He’s still at the club, albeit now in J2, where he has scored once in his first five games of the new campaign.