Coventry City secured promotion to the Premier League on Friday as the Championship leaders’ 1-1 draw against Blackburn ended their 25-year exile from the top-flight.
Frank Lampard’s side needed a point from their trip to Ewood Park to be certain of automatic promotion.
They did it the hard way, trailing to Ryoya Morishita’s deflected 54th-minute strike before Bobby Thomas headed the priceless equaliser in the 84th minute.
Having led the Championship table for much of the season, the Sky Blues have wrapped up their return to English football’s elite with three games to spare.
Backed by 7,500 raucous fans crammed into the Darwen End, Coventry were below their best for long periods of a nervous display.
But their performance will quickly be forgotten, replaced by life-long memories of the promotion party that followed Thomas’ glancing header from Victor Torp’s free-kick.
Supporters wept tears of joy when the final whistle announced their ascent to the Premier League.
Now Lampard’s men can set their sights on winning the Championship title, with second-placed Ipswich 11 points behind with five matches to play.
Fittingly, Coventry’s previous promotion to the top-flight in 1967 was also sealed at Blackburn when Rovers drew with Bolton.
That was the start of a 34-year spell in the top tier before relegation in 2001 sparked a steep decline.
Coventry plunged into the fourth tier for one season in 2017-18 and were even forced to play their home games in Northampton and Birmingham for three seasons due to a bitter legal battle between the club and their stadium’s owners.
