Championship leaders Coventry bounced back from their first league defeat of the season with a 3-1 come-from-behind victory over Sheffield United at the CBS Arena.
Former Sky Blues defender Sam McCullum put the Blades ahead in the first half, with Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Bobby Thomas scoring after the break.
Joint championship leading scorer Brandon Thomas-Asante added his third goal at the end, clinching his ninth win of the season.
With this loss, Chris Wilder’s side have lost their third straight game, following defeats against Preston and Derby, and means United remain in the relegation zone.
Manager Frank Lampard made five changes from the squad that lost 3-1 at Wrexham on Friday night.
Thomas, Milan van Ewijk and Jay Dasilva return to form a familiar back four, while Victor Torp has also been recalled with a calf injury.
The Danish midfielder quickly returned to the game and stung the palm of goalkeeper Michael Cooper with a trademark free kick.
Another free-kick for Torpe caused problems inside the United box as the loose ball was caught by Josh Eccles and Cooper curled a superb volley into another safety.
The Blades’ first goal came midway through an end-to-end first half when Ben Mee outplayed Torpe and McCullum side-footed home from close range after glancing in at Sidi Peck’s corner.
Wilder’s side almost went one step further when Tom Cannon pecked inside the box, but his shot was blocked before Sky Blues keeper Karl Rushworth headed home.
Haji Wright, who has not scored since the international break, almost got on the end of Liam Kitching’s flick-on following a long throw from Van Eywijk.
Wright was met with a shot from Thomas Asante’s inviting cross, but the American’s header was well saved by Cooper.
United’s keeper was sent off with an injury at half-time and was replaced by Adam Davies, whose first action was to pick the ball out of the net.
Van Eijwijk’s long throw flew to Sakamoto, who fired a shot into the bottom corner of the goal and scored the third goal on the bounce.
Coventry also made changes during this period, with new signing Efron Mason-Clarke scoring a superb goal.
Lampard’s side were in the lead with an hour left on the clock when Thomas converted a corner kick from Torp, who fired past the Blades’ defense to score his second goal of the season.
Callum O’Hare has scored in the last two games for Wilder’s side and was met with a chorus of boos throughout the night against his former team.
The Blades looked for a tying goal late in the game after Peck and Tyrese Campbell saw their shots blocked.
With time running out for the visitors, Wright beat the offside trap and Thomas-Asante scored.
managers
Frank Lampard of Coventry:
“They’re obviously not the best, the way they are in the league, but they’re a good team and I have a lot of respect for Chris (Wilder), so I knew it was going to be a tough game.”
“The second half was what we wanted and what we have been for most of the season, there was real energy in the team with the way we played.
“There were very few tactical tweaks, but the main adjustments were in our approach to the game, how fast we were and how much pressure we put on our opponents, which changed the course of the game.”
“If you want to be successful this season, you’ve got to take it off. If you look at our big performances this year, that’s what it was.
“When we dominated teams, which we were fortunate to do sometimes, we had more power, we had more pace, we played forward, we ran forward, we supported each other and we were able to move forward, and we do that often.
“We know we can’t always do it for 90 minutes, but we have to believe that’s what we can do as a team and it showed in the second half.
“I was happy with the way they played the game, with a lot of corner kicks in the second half, but we pushed and sometimes you have to.”
Chris Wilder of Sheffield United:
“There are a lot of good things about playing against the best team in the league that is scoring goals left, right and center and winning games left, right and center.
“The goal was avoidable, a long throw that was switched off on the edge of the box after half-time, and so was the second goal, but it wasn’t dealt with. It’s a shame that things like this happen.”
“Especially towards the end, we thought we were in the game for a long time, but we just have to deal with that direct play and we don’t really deal with it.
“We scored a goal from a set-piece and they scored two goals from a set-piece. Up until half-time I was happy with our game plan and happy with the contribution of our players.
“It’s always going to cause some problems in terms of the quality they have, but I think we caused just as many problems in terms of dealing with it and getting into the game well.
“I didn’t think there would be two goals in this game, but we had a team that had confidence and belief against a team that was struggling a little bit.
“But until half-time, it was enough to encourage me and the guys and give us support to get a result.”
