IF the figures are to be believed 28,000 came to the Ricoh Arena for Coventry City’s community day but very few stayed until full time as Accrington Stanley upstaged the hosts on their big day.

The Reds were comprehensive 2-0 winners against the play-off chasing Sky Blues thanks to Jordan Clark’s double, backed by a 500-strong away following.

Stanley had to overcome the blow of the in-form Sean McConville failing a fitness test before kick off but made a superb start against a Coventry side also without key men through illness and injury.

The Reds began brightly and although League Two player of the month Marc McNulty claimed a penalty for the hosts the visitors made the early running and were rewarded as soon as the fourth minute.

A Mark Hughes free kick was brought down by Callum Johnson, switched to the left in McConville’s place, and he got to the byline before delivering a low cross which evaded Billy Kee and Kayden Jackson but Clark arrived at the perfect time and drill in his first goal since October.

The bumper crowd was quiet before it had chance to make any noise.

John Coleman’s side proceeded to have the best chances of the first period despite Coventry seeing plenty of the ball. Two Kee headers were close to stretching the lead, one over and one wide from Johnson corners.

The only save for Aaron Chapman in the Stanley goal was from a Jordan Maguire-Drew free kick, with McNulty rifling into the side netting as the hosts failed to get into their stride.

Stanley did just that themselves after the interval, with Kee clattering the crossbar with a 30 yard free kick and Jackson finding the side netting from a tight angle when well placed.

Twice Clark was close to a second as first, a Johnson cross was scrambled away from him, before the returning Seamus Conneely found Jackson in the box but Clark was unable to convert his ball in.

The former Barnsley wideman was not to be denied again though, doubling Stanley’s advantage on the hour.

Kee found Jackson who ran towards the Coventry goal and the forward unselfishly picked out Clark to his right, allowing his team mate to make it into the box and finish superbly past Liam O’Brien into the far corner of the net.

That prompted the first batch of home supporters to head for the exits and their team did little to encourage others to stay.

The Sky Blues were lucky to keep 11 men on the pitch when Dion Kelly-Evans was only booked for a lunge on Liam Nolan.

Only substitute Peter Vincenti went remotely close to causing a scare in the Stanley area with a header that flew wide.

The Reds saw the game out very comfortably, urged on by their supporters in one corner of the ground who may have been outnumbered but were proving that size isn’t everything.

It could almost be a metaphor for the League Two table, with the win taking ‘little Accrington’ up to second and within six points of leaders Luton Town with a game in hand on the Hatters