MARTYN Waghorn’s late penalty lifted Coventry City off the foot of the Sky Bet Championship table with a 1-0 win against Sheffield United.
Waghorn struck on 87 minutes at the Coventry Building Society Arena as City claimed back-to-back league wins for the first time this season.
The result means Coventry are now in 23rd place in the Championship table, three points from safety with three games in hand on the teams above them.
And City were first to try their luck when Matty Godden smashed a loose ball well wide of the target.
The game sparked into life soon after when James McAtee lunged in on Fankaty Dabo right in front of the dugouts which led to a melee between both sets of players with the Manchester City loanee shown a yellow card.
Sheffield United came closest to breaking the deadlock early in the second half when Oliver Norwood’s free-kick from out wide on the left hit the crossbar.
The returning Gustavo Hamer then collected Josh Eccles’ pass before bursting into the box and seeing his shot saved at Adam Davies’ near post.
And the Blades hit the woodwork again when Oli McBurnie’s driven shot crashed against the left post and bounced to safety with Ben Wilson beaten.
However, City were awarded a penalty in the final few minutes when Viktor Gyokeres drew a rash challenge from veteran defender Chris Basham in the box.
And Waghorn confidently dispatched the resulting penalty into the bottom left corner, despite Davies’ diving the right way, to score his first league goal since September last year.
Coventry are next in action away at Stoke City on Saturday, September 22 with kick-off at 3pm at the bet365 Stadium.
