'Dropped it' - Coventry City match-winner reacts to James Beadle howler during Sheffield Wednesday clash
Sheffield Wednesday fell to a crushing defeat after conceding in added-time.
Coventry City’s Ellis Simms was expecting to chase down a lost cause on Saturday before James Beadle’s mistake allowed him to secure a last-minute 2-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday.
The Owls looked set for a rather frustrating point at Hillsborough, having come from behind to make it 1-1 on the hour mark before missing a number of chances to convert their dominant performance into three points. Danny Röhl’s side had 22 shots on goal to their visitor’s nine, with a wastefulness in front of goal costing them once again.
But things got even worse during added-time when Beadle fumbled a hopeless long ball at the feet of Simms, who bounced his opposition goalkeeper out the way before rolling into an empty net for all three points. It was a horrible moment for the young Wednesday goalkeeper but one Coventry’s match-winner was more than happy to pounce on.
“I’m delighted, in football you have to play to the final whistle, so it was a nice goal at the and to get the three points is massive for us,” Simms told Coventry’s website. “We had to dig in, it was a tough game today, they’ve got quality so we had to defend well and defend the box.
“I looked at the time and I think it was the 93rd minute and knew that the game would be done after that, so I thought just sprint and chase it down, the game is done after that and then get back in position. But yeah, I chased it down and next minute the keeper dropped it, and I just slotted it home. So, it’s just a great feeling and like I said you’ve just got to play to the whistle.”
Simms proved to be the difference on Saturday, with the 24-year-old providing a clinical edge that Wednesday were lacking. The powerful striker opened the scoring for his side on 16 minutes after meeting a deep cross with his head - something manager Frank Lampard had seemingly been working on through the week.
“We played with two strikers today and the message was to try and get it into the box,” Simms added. “I kind of got across my man and glanced it home. After that there were kind of spells where we had to suffer a little bit because we know they’re a good team, especially at this ground as well as the fans are quite intense, so yeah we had to defend well and overall, we dug in.
“I think getting the three points is the main thing, we want to be looking upwards, so we need to get points on the board to do that. Fair enough it wasn’t the prettiest game but at the end of the day were coming home with three points.”