Coventry City 0 - 0 Swindon Town

[dutchman]

[dutchman]

Andy Turner dissects a frustrating day for the Sky Blues at the Ricoh Arena



Coventry City dropped a place but, thanks to results elsewhere, moved a point closer to the play-off zone after battling out a draw with the on-song Robins.

And in a match of few clear-cut chances the real drama arrived in the dying seconds of overtime as Nuneaton-born keeper Tyrell Belford pulled off a stunning save to deny Sky Blues substitute Darius Henderson.

Forced to shuffle his back four because of the knee injury that ended Chris Stokes’s ever-present record, Tony Mowbray switched skipper Sam Ricketts to left-back and drafted in Martin Lorentzson on the right.

And City made two changes in midfield, James Maddison and Jacob Murphy dropping to the bench to accommodate Andy Rose – his first start – and Joe Cole.

The game started cagily, the only shot in the first 20 minutes John Fleck’s low 25-yarder that skidded wide of the post.

Swindon threatened for the first time when Adam Armstrong, chasing back after losing the ball in midfield, toppled Louis Thompson 20 yards out but Nicky Ajose curled his free-kick into the wall.

That sparked a spell of Robins pressure, Charles-Cook getting down to claim Jionathan Obika’s low shot but then playing Romain Vincelot into trouble with his quick throw out.

The Frenchman fouled Michael Doughty as he tried to keep possession, collecting a yellow card and conceding a free-kick that Anton Rodgers curved fractionally wide of the near post.

Marc-Antoine Fortune couldn’t quite control Armstrong’s driven cross as City found space down the right but Charles-Cook again had to be alert as Obika tried a shot on the turn.

Cole couldn’t find the power or the direction to beat Tyrell Belford at the end of a good move while Fortune was again unable to get a clean connection as Rose found him with a clever curled ball.

And the home fans’ cheers were cut shot in the 38th minute when Cole fired in a right-foot cross from the left flank but Rose was flagged offside as he stooped to head home at the far post.

Swindon were kicking towards the wedge of 2,500 visiting fans in the second half and they had something to get excited about five minutes in as Charles-Cook clutched a shot from Jamie Sendles-White.

Mowbray revamped his attack for the final half-hour, sending on Murphy and Maddison for Cole and Fortune and he went for broke 20 minutes from time by replacing defender Martin Lorentzson with battering-ram centre-forward Darius Henderson.

Maddison had a long-range shot charged down and, after Robins sub Fabien Robert had tried a spectacular bicycle-kick, Sendles-White had to dive in to deny Henderson when the veteran looked all set to pounce.

As the game ticked into four minutes of overtime, Henderson was way off target with an ambitious attempt from Armstrong’s clever lay-off while Obika blazed yards over after spearheading a dangerous counter-attack,

And right at the death the Sky Blues were denied by a moment of sheer quality as Henderson chested down Ricketts’s cross to let fly from eight yards but Belford reacted brilliantly to tip it over the bar.