The Championship play-off final might be the worst game to lose in the whole of English football. A penalty shoot-out reverse is the most painful way to suffer defeat in any match.
Combine the two and one can only imagine how low Coventry City felt at the end of last season. Their loss to Luton Town in the play-off final came on spot-kicks, with Fankaty Dabo missing the decisive effort for the Sky Blues.
Given the consequent heartache, perhaps it is no surprise that Coventry made a sluggish start to the current campaign. The same happened last term, with Mark Robins’ side in the relegation zone until the start of November (albeit with a fair few games in hand).
This time around, Coventry found themselves just outside the bottom three until the November international break. Fast forward four months and they are now on the cusp of the play-off places.
Ipswich Town – the top four in the division – have accumulated more points. Once again, Coventry look to be peaking at the right time.
There is still work to do, though. Despite a 5-0 thrashing of Rotherham United in the midweek round of fixtures, Coventry are three points adrift of Hull City in the final play-off spot. Norwich City, Preston North End and Cardiff City are also hoping to sneak into the top six.
Coventry will not play in the Championship next weekend, when they will instead face Wolverhampton Wanderers in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. That makes it doubly important that they keep the heat on the teams above them by winning on Saturday.
Watford have struggled in recent weeks, leaving their manager Valerien Ismael under pressure. Coventry will be looking to inflict further misery on the Hornets this weekend.