City: Simonsen, Hoefkens, Higginbotham, Duberry, Griffin, Hendrie, Russell, Diao, Berger (Brammer, 90+1), Sidibe, Fuller (Pericard, 87).Subs Not Used: Buxton, Hill, Sweeney.

Coventry: Marshall, Duffy, Page, Ward, Hall, Cameron (john, 65), Doyle, Clarke, Currie, Adebola, McKenzie (Birchall, 90+2). Subs Not Used: Gonzalez, Bischoff, Virgo.

City failed to keep their run of consecutive wins going but will be satisfied with a goalless draw from the potentially tricky visit to the Ricoh arena.

The match was hardly a classic, but after the Sky Blues had just shaded the first half by creating a couple of good chances, City finished more strongly.

Apart from these two opportunities, the home side didn't look as if they had the guile to break down a typically well organised defence and tight midfield.

With the meanest rearguard in the Championship (City) and the fourth meanest on show, a goalless draw was perhaps a predictable outcome, but it was the Potters who looked more likely to break the deadlock the longer the game went on.

Liam Lawrence failed a late fitness test, meaning that Patrik Berger made his first start since his loan move on the left of midfield, and he will be pleased to get a full ninety minutes under his belt.

The home side, looking to build on two good away performances, included former City captain Clive Clarke in midfield and former Potters defender Marcus Hall at left-back.

Neither side really got going in the first half as they cancelled each other out.

City's tempo and passing were not as good as in recent matches, but the home side's midfield didn't appear to have the creativity to play through Salif Diao and Darel Russell and unlock the Potters' defence.

Despite this the Sky Blues had the best two chances of the half, both falling to former Crewe striker Dele Adebola.

After eighteen minutes fellow striker Leon Mckenzie broke down the right with the City defence looking for an off-side flag.  He crossed perfectly for Adebola, whose header failed to hit the target when he should have scored.

In the last seconds of time added on at the end of the half, with the Sky Blues finishing strongly, another Adebola header, this time from a cross from the opposite flank by Darren Currie, crashed against the woodwork with Steve Simonsen beaten.

In between the two attempts, it had been something of a drab match, with little goalmouth action and with City's best attempts coming from an early Mamady Sidibe shot and a surging run from Ricardo Fuller, who forced a diving save from Andy Marshall after twenty-seven minutes.

At the start of the second half, the home side, still not allowed to play with any fluency by the Potters, were confined to optimistic balls into the box but the defence remained strong, with Michael Duberry and Danny Higginbotham in command in the middle, prompting the Sky Blues manager Mickey Adams to put on leading scorer Stern John instead of midfielder Colin Cameron after sixty-five minutes.

Despite this move,it was City who almost stole the lead when Fuller set Sidibe free but the tall striker was forced wide and his shot was deflected for a corner which was half-cleared to Berger whose vicious shot was deflected over the bar by Hall.

As the game began to open up, a Coventry corner caused chaos in the City rearguard before Fuller was thwarted by an excellent tackle by Elliot Ward after he had been put through by Hendrie, who started to impose his presence on the game after a quiet start.

As the Potters went forward in search of the winner, Fuller looked a real threat, drawing a flying save out of Marshall with a curling right-foot shot, volleying over under pressure after one of several corners and then seeing a right-foot shot defected.

At the other end, the home side failed to create a chance as City completed an impressive total of nine hours twenty-six minutes without conceding a goal, and will be looking to next week's home game to try to resume the winning sequence.

Bob James