Shefki Kuqi ensured Ipswich maintained their two-point lead at top of the
table with the decisive second-half strike at Portman Road in a five-goal
thriller.
It was tough on Adrian Heath's Coventry, who matched the Coca-Cola
Championship leaders for most of the match and arguably deserved a point in an
action-packed encounter.
But Kuqi struck the winner with his 13th goal of the season in the 77th minute
after beating Coventry defender Richard Shaw to a long clearance before curling
the ball home left-footed from just inside the penalty area.
Darren Bent denied Coventry an interval lead with an equaliser right on the
stroke of half-time following Stern John's early opener for the visitors.
And although Bent fired home a second in the 59th minute, Gary McSheffrey
levelled the scores at 2-2 with a neatly-taken penalty after Kuqi had handled in
the penalty area.
The first effort fell to Kuqi, who blazed wide early on, with Coventry
responding through Andy Morrell, who forced home goalkeeper Kelvin Davis into
action with his shot from the edge of the area.
The visitors took a deserved 12th-minute lead when John latched onto Dean
Leacock's cross into the area to turn the ball past Davis from close range.
Jim Magilton's 25-yarder was then blocked by Richard Shaw and Wilnis forced
Coventry goalkeeper Luke Steele into a flying save with his follow-up effort
from the edge of the area.
Coventry's Isaac Osbourne and McSheffrey again went close with efforts from
outside the box, while Currie's 25-yard free-kick following Ady Williams' foul
on Kuqi was comfortably held by Steele.
But with half-time fast approaching Bent was quickest to react to Wilnis'
cross and converted from close range.
Ipswich surged forward after the restart but Coventry soon picked up where
they had left off in the first half with the impressive Leacock and Michael
Doyle firing dangerous balls into the box before Adrian Heath's side were dealt
a blow.
On-loan Fulham midfielder Leacock was forced out of the action through injury
and was replaced by Andrew Whing, but the visitors still threatened with home
keeper Davis saving Osbourne's drive from the edge of the area and Jason De Vos
clearing another Doyle cross.
Ipswich then snatched the lead when Bent raced onto Magilton's
defence-splitting pass to fire home low into the bottom left-hand corner from
the edge of the area in the 59th minute for his 14th goal of the season.
But the Suffolk side's lead was short-lived. Davis had already tipped
McSheffrey's goalbound close-range strike from another Doyle cross around the
post when Kuqi was adjudged to have handled the latter's corner two minutes
later.
McSheffrey stepped forward and placed his left-foot spot-kick into the top
left-hand corner to level matters again.
John then headed Steve Staunton's free-kick over the crossbar with the game
hanging in the balance.
Currie saw his 25-yard volley blocked by Shaw and Steele denied Bent his
hat-trick when holding onto his far-post header following Currie's corner.
Ipswich snatched all three points in the 77th minute when Kuqi beat Shaw in
the race for a long clearance before calmly curling the ball beyond Steele into
the bottom left-hand corner.
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook