In-form Southampton ended Championship leaders Coventry’s six-match winning run with a 2-1 victory at the CBS Arena.

Flynn Downes pounced on a rebound to open the scoring shortly after half-time before Kuryu Matsuki doubled Southampton’s lead with five minutes remaining.

Victor Torp’s stoppage-time penalty gave Frank Lampard’s side hope in the final moments, but the Sky Blues were condemned to just their second home defeat of the season.

It meant that Tonda Eckert’s side kept pace with sixth-placed Wrexham in the race for the play-offs as Saints extended their unbeaten run in all competitions to 12.

It was a cagey opening, although Cyle Larin almost opened the scoring for Southampton when he hooked narrowly wide from Matsuki’s header back across goal.

Larin, who scored a last-gasp equaliser at West Brom on Wednesday, was one of three changes to Saints’ starting XI.

There was a huge blow for the visitors as Leo Scienza, who came off in the draw against the Baggies, failed to recover in time to be in the squad.

Coventry’s main threat came down the left through Ephron Mason-Clark, who had the beating of James Bree and crossed for Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, but the Japanese winger could only head over.

Luke Woolfenden then headed wide from close range from another Mason-Clark cross as Coventry continued to cause issues from out wide.

Southampton then had Bayern Munich loanee Daniel Peretz to thank as he made an incredible save to prevent Liam Kitching from opening the scoring on his 100th appearance for the Sky Blues.

Haji Wright had been given a rest in Coventry’s 3-0 win over Preston in midweek but was recalled to the starting line-up, and the American striker almost added to his 16 league goals this season when he volleyed Mason-Clark’s cross inches wide.

Southampton stunned the CBS Arena just three minutes after the restart.

Matsuki’s cross evaded both Larin and goalkeeper Carl Rushworth and rebounded off a post, where it was met by the onrushing Downes who could not miss from inside the six-yard box.

Ryan Manning went close to doubling Southampton’s lead six minutes later with a free-kick that whistled past the right-hand post.

Wright had scored six goals in Coventry’s six games since the turn of the year and was presented with a golden chance to equalise when he headed Milan van Ewijk’s hanging cross straight at Peretz.

Southampton doubled their advantage in fortunate fashion when Bree’s corner hit the leg of the unmarked Matsuki and rolled past the helpless Rushworth.

Torp then stepped up to dispatch a penalty he had won himself after he was fouled by Shea Charles.

The inevitable onslaught followed as Coventry desperately searched for an equaliser, but Peretz was able to breathe a sigh of relief when he held onto Romaine Esse’s shot following a goalmouth scramble.

Pakistan middle-order batter Salman Ali Agha has reacted to his controversial run-out in the second One Day International against Bangladesh, saying he would have taken a different decision if he were in the opponent’s place.

The incident occurred during the match at Sher-e-Bangla Cricket Stadium in Dhaka when Bangladesh captain Mehidy Hasan Miraz ran Salman Agha out at the non-striker’s end.

The Pakistani batter showed visible anger while leaving the field after the dismissal.

Following the incident, former Pakistan cricketers Ramiz Raja and Hamad Hafeez also criticised Mehidy Hasan’s action, calling it against the spirit of sportsmanship.

The Bangladesh captain also faced criticism on social media.

Speaking at a post-match press conference, Salman Agha said the run-out was valid according to the laws of the game, but believed sportsmanship should have been prioritised in that moment.

He explained that he thought the ball had become dead after hitting the bat and pad, which is why he was trying to return the ball to the bowler.

Earlier in the match, Bangladesh won the toss and invited Pakistan to bat first. Pakistan scored 274 runs in 47.3 overs.

During the chase, Bangladesh’s innings was interrupted by rain.

When play resumed, the target was revised to 243 runs in 32 overs, but Bangladesh were bowled out for 114, handing Pakistan a 128-run victory.

The three-match ODI series is now level at 1-1, with the deciding match scheduled to be played on Sunday.

Aryna Sabalenka roared past Linda Noskova on Friday to book an Indian Wells title showdown with Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina.

Sabalenka beat 14th-ranked Czech Noskova 6-3, 6-4 and Rybakina downed Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 7-5, 6-4 to set up a mouth-watering rematch of their Melbourne final.

Rybakina also beat Sabalenka in the 2023 championship match in Indian Wells — where the Belarusian star has come up empty in two prior trips to the final.

“I want that match,” said Sabalenka, who has been in imperious form in the California desert this year.

She fired 37 winners with 11 aces, applying relentless pressure from the baseline in a commanding win over Noskova.

She broke the big-serving Czech twice as she powered to a 5-1 lead in the opening set.

There was a hiccup as she tried to serve out the set, and Sabalenka, who had lost just one point in her first three service games, was broken.

Noskova kept the set alive with a battling hold in a marathon eighth game, fending off a set point with a service winner and sealing the game with an ace.

Serving for the set again, Sabalenka opened with a double fault and went down 0-30, but a pair of big serves and a backhand winner brought her to set point, and she claimed it with an ace.

Sabalenka broke Noskova to open the second and was on her way. Noskova fended off a second break, but she was unable to convert a break opportunity in the eighth game as Sabalenka brought it home, capping the victory with a forehand winner on her third match point.

“I think I really played great tennis,” Sabalenka said. “I was serving well. I was playing well. I like the way I put her under pressure on her serve.”

Rybakina, who is set to rise one spot to number two in the world on Monday, had too much firepower for ninth-ranked Svitolina, who was coming off a three-set win over two-time champion Iga Swiatek in the quarter-finals.

Rybakina recouped an early break in a tight first set and seized control with a break for 6-5, her steady pressure on Svitolina’s serve provoking too many mistakes from the Ukrainian.

Top-10 streak

Rybakina won seven straight games from 4-5 down in the first, breaking Svitolina twice on the way to a 4-0 lead in the second set.

The experienced Svitolina made her keep grinding, saving a match point on her own serve then saving another on the way to a break for 5-3 as she won three straight games.

But Rybakina made no mistake as she served for the match a second time, nabbing her 12th straight victory over top-10 opponents.

“Not, maybe, my best performance, but I’m super happy to win this match and be in the final again,” Rybakina said.

Although she trails Sabalenka 8-7 in their career head-to-head, she has won their last two meetings, in the title match of last year’s WTA Finals and at the Australian Open — where she claimed her second Grand Slam crown.

Despite those recent successes Rybakina was expecting a battle on Sunday.

“We played so many times, and I think it all depends on close moments, which we usually have — whoever steps in, plays more aggressive, more solid,” Rybakina said. “It’s going to be a difficult match.

“We’re both going to try to serve well, that’s for sure, put pressure… we will see what’s going to happen.”