Sky Sports pundit fumes live on air as Coventry City denied ‘stonewall penalty’ in dramatic win vs Stoke City

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Victor Torp was the star of the show for Coventry City, but Frank Lampard’s men had to fight to the death to get a win over a resilient Mark Robins and Stoke City.

Mark Robins returned to visit a rampant Coventry City side that had won eight of their last nine to hit momentum at the right time in eyeing the play-offs under the tutelage of Frank Lampard. 

Lampard’s team has had the brilliance of Jack Rudoni to rely on lately but his dislocated shoulder came at the wrong time to force Lampard to change things for Coventry against Stoke.

Torp replaced him in the line-up, in what turned out to be an inspired decision. His two goals today were his first since January, when he also bagged a brace against Watford in a 2-1 victory in the Championship.

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Sky Sports pundits react to Coventry penalty incident against Stoke

Milan van Ewijk’s long throw saw Torp head home his fifth of the season, before Tatsuhiro Sakamoto laid it on a plate for the Dane to slot home with his left foot and it seemed the Sky Blues had the points sealed before half-time.

It wasn’t a half without controversy, though. Ephron Mason-Clark appeared to be fouled by Viktor Johansson when racing through on the Stoke City goal, but his penalty appeals were turned down.

Speaking in the Sky Sports studio at the break, David Prutton asked: “How on earth is this not a penalty?”

Curtis Davies responded: “I have no idea. There’s levels to it. We don’t want referees guessing, we don’t want referees trying to make their own interpretation of what happened.

“But here, you can see clearly where the referee is. Mason-Clark takes a really good first touch and lifts it over Johansson.

“I’m not even bothered about the idea of is it a red card or is it not, but you see the referee here comes into shot. And, literally, if he can’t see that, what are we meant to say about football and the rules?

“It’s a clear stonewall penalty and it has cost Coventry.”

Gary Rowett added: “You just pray that the referee does his job. And to not give a penalty there is really, really strange.”

In the end, that decision almost held “an even weightier magnitude” on the final result in the game, with Stoke City launching a spirited fight back in the second half to get back to 2-2, and leave Coventry fans even more furious about the earlier controversial call in the box.

But, an injury-time goal from Bobby Thomas was enough to secure all three points for Lampard and his Sky Blues team, and keep the magic run going.

• READ MORE: Frank Lampard heaps praise on Mark Robins in Coventry City vs Stoke City

Frank Lampard has a wealth of attacking options to choose from at Coventry

It was looking like a tough day for Robins against his former side, but that penalty decision turned things around in the end and he very nearly came away the happier manager at full-time.

That said, there is evidently plenty of belief around Coventry at the moment as they head towards the business end of the season, and the fact they managed to dig deep and steal all three points says a lot about their pursuit of the play-offs.

Indeed, Lampard’s side have hit form at just the right time, and he will be buoyed by the fact that his stand-in striker has produced the goods here today.

With Rudoni out, Lampard needed someone to step up and lead the line, and Torp has proven he could be the one to carry Coventry until the end of the campaign.

Plus, the Chelsea legend has seen Haji Wright and Ben Sheaf return from injury recently, with plenty of timely options to choose from in the coming key fixtures.