Bolton Wanderers 1 - 0 Coventry City

Sky Blues beaten in Lancashire



Coventry City slipped closer to the relegation zone as they suffered their second away defeat in four days shortly after Swindon picked up a precious point at Southend.

But in contrast to Saturday’s 4-1 hiding at Oxford which had fans searching their memory banks to recall a worse performance, there were plenty of positives to take from their second-half efforts against a Bolton side chasing automatic promotion.

Although they were under the cosh for most of the first half, the Sky Blues dominated the second and were desperately unlucky not to salvage a draw. The final log shows that City had more shots and more corners than their high-riding rivals but although Mark Venus used three attacking substitutes they just couldn’t find their way through for an equaliser.

They can console themselves that this was never a game they were likely to win and have the perfect opportunity to cash in on Saturday’s Ricoh six-pointer against MK Dons.

Venus added Kyel Reid, Daniel Agyei and Cian Harries to his starting 11 and stuck with the back-three formation that partially stemmed the second-half tide at Oxford on Saturday. But Bolton opened with a swagger that reflected the two team’s league positions and self-belief, stroking the ball from side to side as they probed for openings.

And although Burge tipped away Madine’s awkward cross-come-shot and then blocked a point-blank blast from the former City loan man, they duly broke through in the 12th minute as Madine’s flick found Clough in space on the edge of the area and he took full advantage to clip a first-time shot over the advancing Burge.

For a while City could do no more than cling on as Bolton threatened to overrun them, Harries sticking to his task manfully despite receiving a forearm smash from Madine that the referee chose to overlook. But the Sky Blues suddenly discovered some penetration in the 32nd minute as Alnwick was stretched by Reid’s fierce drive and, from the subsequent corner, Bigirimana’s shot was charged down and Page was barged over by Ameobi in one of those ‘anywhere else on the pitch’ incidents.

Bolton retaliated instantly but City survived as Madine’s air-shot translated into a perfect dummy for Clough but he shot straight at Burge. But the Sky Blues stuck to their task and even managed to create a couple more openings – former Bolton striker Sordell getting a predictable response from the home fans when he skewed his 20-yarder spectacularly high and wide.

As at the Kassam Stadium last weekend, City opened the second half brightly and the locals grew restless as Bolton’s defence had to resort to a couple of panicky clearances. It didn’t produce any end-product (although Beevers was booked for upending Agyei after Mr Stockbridge had initially played the advantage) and Bolton rediscovered their attacking mojo on the hour as Burge got down smartly to save Ameobi’s deflected shot before Clough won a free-kick off Sterry (also yellow-carded) and curled it against the foot of the post with Burge beaten.

Venus reacted with a bold substitution, pitching on Lameiras and Jones, and the pair combined cleverly for the latter to get in a left-foot shot that was deflected wide, Lameiras suffered a similar fate when Sterry pulled back a low cross and although they were outnumbered 25-1 it was the City fans who (Sordell carcalls aside) were making most of the noise.

They were on their feet anticipating an equaliser in the 76th minute when Lameiras forced another corner and Turnbull met Jones’s kick with a thumping head which cannoned into the oblivious Spearing just short of the line. The Sky Blues were clearly in control by this stage, their third replacement Jack McBean seeing his close-range dig blocked before Bolton survived a frantic scramble from the corner.

But Bolton saw it out, sparking a huge cheer of relief from their fans who surely know that they got away with this one.