Lampard's Coventry heaps more misery on Sunderland
Coventry City lifted itself out of the Premier League's bottom three after brushing aside Sunderland 3-1 at Coventry Building Society Arena, where the visitors were reduced to 10 men late on.
Goals from Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Taiwo Awoniyi and Jack Rudoni secured a third Premier League win for the Sky Blues, while also heaping further pressure on Sunderland boss Regis Le Bris, whose side remains bottom of the table.
Sunderland had a couple of chances to take the lead with Chris Rigg firing into the hands of Carl Rushworth before Trai Hume blazed over the bar after poor defending from Coventry.
However, it was the Sky Blues that went ahead in the 17th minute after Sakamoto curled a low finish into the bottom-left corner. That all came after Trai Hume failed to clear Milan van Ewijk’s exquisite right-wing delivery.
The visitors had a golden opportunity to equalise minutes later, but Brian Brobbey dragged a finish past the left-hand post before Victor Torp’s 25-yard free-kick was tipped past the post by Robin Roefs.
But there was nothing Roefs could do about Coventry's second in the 37th minute. Awoniyi brilliantly won possession from Luke O'Nien in a dangerous area before racing into the box and finding the bottom-left corner, via a slight deflection from Omar Alderete.
Alderete was again involved in Coventry’s third as the defender diverted Rudoni’s stinging strike past the helpless Roefs.
Sunderland looked to pull one back with Alderete arrowing an acrobatic attempt past the left-hand post before Chemsdine Talbi agonisingly dragged an effort wide.
Enzo Le Fee managed to reduce the deficit from the penalty spot after a video assistant referee (VAR) check found Ethan Pinnock had handled O'Nien's close-range attempt.
But Sunderland's attempts at a comeback fell flat, and the loss of Alderete late in stoppage-time, as he received a second yellow card for bringing down Rudoni, capped off a frustrating day for the Black Cats.
Le Bris believes he will be able to find the solutions to turn Sunderland's Premier League fortunes around, if he is allowed to do so.
"Bad result. Ups and downs, I think the summary of this game and the season so far," he said.
"We can play good football and create some good chances, but we also made many unforced errors.
"At this level, especially in the Premier League, the opponent can seize every single opportunity, and [Brentford] did that. It's not a question of luck, it's a question of us. We are too inconsistent at the minute to be efficient in this league."
The pressure will surely ramp up on Le Bris after this game. However, the Frenchman remains undeterred.
"In my mind, I worked for Sunderland for 10 years, so I'm here to give everything," he added. "I work hard, I will connect with people, with the players to find solutions."
For Coventry boss Frank Lampard, the win was welcome. After suffering a narrow 1-0 loss to Fulham last week, the former Chelsea and Everton head coach was impressed with the way his team responded.
"Really pleased [with the performance]. It was the energy I spoke before the game, that we didn't have our usual energy last week. This week we did," he said.
"And sometimes you get what you deserve through that. We made it a difficult game for them from the beginning. We started really well, and we got our goals which were fantastic."
