Coventry City 4-1 Gillingham

Ben Turner celebrates Coventry's second goal on his first start since returning to the Ricoh Arena on loan

Coventry City hit four goals inside 10 first-half minutes, including a hat-trick from Jacob Murphy, as they overwhelmed morning leaders Gillingham to leapfrog to the top of League One.

It took until the 34th minute before Murphy fired home left-footed from six yards before on-loan Ben Turner quickly doubled City's lead with a header.

On-loan Murphy then struck twice more inside three minutes before the break.

Bradley Dack pulled one back with a left-foot shot on 63 minutes.

But it could not stop Gillingham surrendering their lead to City, who climbed to their highest ranking in the Football League since being relegated to the third tier in 2012.

Despite controlling the first half hour, City could have fallen behind when Sky Blues old boy Cody McDonald's header was cleared off the line by Jim O'Brien. Instead, the Sky Blues broke down the other end and Murphy took advantage of a mistake by Adedeji Oshilaja to round goalkeeper Stuart Nelson before finishing.

Three minutes later, Murphy won the corner that saw Ryan Kent cross for Turner to power home his 37th minute header, marking his first start since his midweek return to the club on loan from Cardiff City..

O'Brien then played in Murphy to round Nelson again before the young on-loan Norwich striker completed his first career treble when he stroked Chris Stokes' cross into the top corner to complete a personal haul of six goals in three games after last weekend's brace at Colchester.

Coventry top scorer Adam Armstrong then hit the post before Dack fired home his consolation goal for the visitors.

Second beats first again

This was the third time this season that 'second' has played 'first' in League One - and, on each occasion, the game has been won by the chasing side, to ensure new leaders of the division.

On both previous occasions, in October, Walsall were the winners, beating first Burton Albion and then Gillingham.

Sky Blues boss Tony Mowbray told BBC Coventry & Warwickshire:

"I'm delighted with a top performance. My job is to inspire the team and get them in the right frame of mind.

"When they left the dressing room I thought they were ready for a proper game of football, and it proved to be the case.

"We have to use that as our benchmark and try to attain that performance level as often as we can."

• Line-ups
• Match Stats
• Live Text

Line-ups

Coventry

• 23Charles-Cook
• 18Ricketts
• 21Martin
• 15TurnerSubstituted forPhillipsat 56'minutes
• 3Stokes
• 4Vincelot
• 7Fleck
• 40Kent
• 11O'BrienSubstituted forHaynesat 81'minutes
• 25MurphySubstituted forBigirimanaat 63'minutes
• 9Armstrong

Substitutes

• 1Burge
• 8Lameiras
• 17Phillips
• 19Bigirimana
• 20Tudgay
• 26Haynes
• 32Fortuné

Gillingham

• 1Nelson
• 2Jackson
• 4Egan
• 50Oshilaja
• 3Garmston
• 44WrightSubstituted forMorrisat 71'minutes
• 8HessenthalerBooked at 31mins
• 16OsadebeSubstituted forLoftat 45'minutes
• 23DackBooked at 64mins
• 10McDonaldSubstituted forDickensonat 68'minutes
• 14Samuel

Substitutes

• 5Ehmer
• 7Loft
• 11McGlashan
• 12Morris
• 15Morris
• 17Donnelly
• 24Dickenson

Referee:

Mark Brown

Attendance:

15,604

Match Stats

Home TeamCoventryAway TeamGillingham

Possession

Home55%

Away45%

Shots

Home16

Away8

Shots on Target

Home7

Away2

Corners

Home2

Away4

Fouls

Home7

Away14

Live Text

Posted at

Match ends, Coventry City 4, Gillingham 1.

Full Time

Posted at 90'+5'

Second Half ends, Coventry City 4, Gillingham 1.

Posted at 90'+1'

Attempt blocked. Brennan Dickenson (Gillingham) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.

Posted at 89'

Foul by Gael Bigirimana (Coventry City).

Posted at 89'

John Egan (Gillingham) wins a free kick on the left wing.

Posted at 88'

Adam Armstrong (Coventry City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 88'

Foul by John Egan (Gillingham).

Posted at 87'

Attempt missed. Adam Armstrong (Coventry City) right footed shot from a difficult angle on the left is close, but misses to the left from a direct free kick.

Posted at 84'

Chris Stokes (Coventry City) wins a free kick on the right wing.

Posted at 84'

Foul by Jake Hessenthaler (Gillingham).

Posted at 82'

Attempt saved. Gael Bigirimana (Coventry City) right footed shot from the right side of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal.

Substitution

Posted at 81'

Substitution, Coventry City. Ryan Haynes replaces Jim O'Brien.

Posted at 77'

Corner, Gillingham. Conceded by Aaron Phillips.

Posted at 74'

Attempt saved. Dominic Samuel (Gillingham) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal.

Posted at 73'

Gael Bigirimana (Coventry City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 73'

Foul by Bradley Garmston (Gillingham).

Substitution

Posted at 71'

Substitution, Gillingham. Aaron Morris replaces Josh Wright.

Posted at 70'

Attempt blocked. Bradley Garmston (Gillingham) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked.

Posted at 69'

Foul by John Fleck (Coventry City).

Posted at 69'

Ryan Jackson (Gillingham) wins a free kick on the left wing.

Substitution

Posted at 68'

Substitution, Gillingham. Brennan Dickenson replaces Cody McDonald.

Posted at 67'

Jim O'Brien (Coventry City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 67'

Foul by Ryan Jackson (Gillingham).

Booking

Posted at 64'

Bradley Dack (Gillingham) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 64'

Gael Bigirimana (Coventry City) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Posted at 64'

Foul by Bradley Dack (Gillingham).

Substitution

Posted at 63'

Substitution, Coventry City. Gael Bigirimana replaces Jacob Murphy.

Goal!

Posted at 63'

Goal! Coventry City 4, Gillingham 1. Bradley Dack (Gillingham) left footed shot from outside the box to the bottom right corner.

Posted at 59'

Adam Armstrong (Coventry City) hits the left post with a right footed shot from the right side of the box.

Posted at 59'

Aaron Martin (Coventry City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 59'

Foul by Dominic Samuel (Gillingham).

Substitution

Posted at 56'

Substitution, Coventry City. Aaron Phillips replaces Ben Turner.

Posted at 56'

Attempt missed. Jim O'Brien (Coventry City) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right.

Posted at 52'

Foul by Jim O'Brien (Coventry City).

Posted at 52'

Bradley Dack (Gillingham) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 49'

Corner, Gillingham. Conceded by Aaron Martin.

Posted at 49'

Attempt blocked. Dominic Samuel (Gillingham) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.

Posted at 48'

Jacob Murphy (Coventry City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 48'

Foul by Adedeji Oshilaja (Gillingham).

Posted at 47'

Attempt missed. John Fleck (Coventry City) left footed shot from outside the box misses to the left.

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