Sky falls in on Blackburn

Coventry City 5 (Busst 40, Dublin 60, Rennie 64, Ndlovu 74 Salako 88) Blackburn Rovers 0 Attendance: 13,376

JUST when Blackburn felt they could hold their heads high again the Sky Blues fell in on them at - of all places - Highfield Road, where their hosts had not won since beating Manchester City in August. And by the time John Salako struck the fifth goal beyond Tim Flowers in the last minute the champions could plead nothing in their own defence. Simply they were well and truly stuffed.

Four of Coventry's five goals came in the last half-hour as the Blackburn defence, with Chris Sutton replacing Colin Hendry at its heart, finally buckled and caved in. Sutton spent most of the second half moving gingerly on an injured ankle picked up because of the frosty ground. But by then Rovers had already used both their outfield substitutes when Paul Warhurst and Billy McKinlay replaced Lars Bohinen and Mike Newell.

Blackburn manager Ray Harford admitted his team simply did not fancy playing on a surface which passed a pre-match pitch inspection. "One team wanted to win and one did not want to play," Harford said. "I wouldn't blame the pitch for the goals but I would blame it for my players' attitude. We didn't compete.

"I suppose I have felt worse, but nobody likes getting beaten 5-0. At 1-0 we were in it but then they scored two quick goals and we caved in. Before the game my players made their opinions known when they said the pitch was hard and slippery."

Coventry did not start anything like underdogs and when they went ahead in the 40th minute it was well deserved. Marcus Hall's deep cross from the left was nodded back across Flowers' goalmouth where the onrushing David Busst connected firmly to head home.

Newell's departure in the 34th minute left Alan Shearer a lonely figure, but he did force Steve Ogrizovic into a fine save, stretching to tip over his free-kick. That was it so far as meaningful Blackburn aggression was concerned. Two Coventry goals in three minutes finished off whatever commitment they had shown.

Another fine cross from Hall in the 61st minute saw Flowers beat out Dion Dublin's header only for Kevin Richardson to loft the ball back to his striker who found the time to control it and shoot past the goalkeeper. Two minutes later Richardson's accurate free-kick found David Rennie invading Flowers' space to head Coventry's third.

Peter Ndlovu's 75th-minute strike was more of a solo creation as the little Zimbabwean scampered past a couple of half-hearted tackles before picking his spot in the Blackburn net. The fifth, from John Salako on the final whistle, was again from Richardson's quick-thinking service and served to pour large amounts of salt in the by now gaping wounds of the champions.

Ron Atkinson has always maintained his Coventry side were far better than recent events would indicate. He would say that, wouldn't he? "I certainly haven't been expecting to see us get beaten as many times as we have," Atkinson said. "But I have always thought we were capable of putting a run together.We defended very well and didn't give Blackburn a look in."

Here was vindication: he has not been talking out of the top of his head. It could be Harford who is phoning the Royal before the season is out.