There was sky blue smoke coming from the Darwen End. After 25 years, Coventry City’s exile was over. There have been times in the past quarter of a century when it has felt never-ending, points when they trailed at Ewood Park when it looked like it would be extended for a little longer.
Then Bobby Thomas headed in Victor Torp’s free kick, his name echoed around Blackburn – the town, it seemed, and not merely the football club – and confirmation came that Coventry’s stay in the EFL will end. They needed a point and got precisely that. The messages on the scarves and banners the enterprising traders were hawking outside Ewood Park – reading “we are Premier League” – will become fact. Frank Lampard has a feat that brooks no dissent, which cannot be caveated with asterisks. “It's right up there for what I've achieved,” he said. “I will never talk down the [2012] Champions League. It is probably the best night of my life. This comes very, very close. It very much dawned on me the achievement of what this is. I am very excited but more emotional.”
