The Sky Blues finally tasted that winning feeling in the Championship for the first time in 10 weeks - and with it the first time in 2011 - as they edged a finely-balanced affair 2-1 against Crystal Palace.
Richard Wood, another stand-out performer along with Carl Baker and Keiren Westwood, opened the scoring before King capped an influential performance with his sixth goal of the season.
Although Coventry were made to hang on after Steffen Iversen pulled one back for the visitors in injury time to set up a nerve-jangling final few minutes.
Boothroyd said: "Marlon King is a top player. He's got a lot of talent but he's also got hunger and desire and does a lot of unselfish work for the team. He also has an eye for a goal.
"But I was pleased with everybody. It would have been easy for supporters to think `here we go again'. They have kept singing because they know we are not that far away."
Source: PA
