COVENTRY City were held to a goalless draw with Birmingham City despite the visitors finishing the game with 10-men after Ryan Woods’ second-half dismissal.
Birmingham midfielder Woods was given his marching orders eight minutes from time for a cynical foul on Sky Blues wing-back Ian Maatsen.
But Coventry were unable to find a winner in the final minutes – despite being the better side for much of the game at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
The result means City now sit fourth in the Sky Bet Championship table and it marked the first league game the Sky Blues have failed to score in at the CBS Arena this season.
Coventry started on the front foot and forced Blues keeper Matija Sarkic into a save when Callum O’Hare and Matty Godden combined neatly on the edge of the penalty area before the latter had a low effort saved.
The Sky Blues should have had a penalty when Viktor Gyokeres was pulled down via a shirt tug inside the box by Birmingham defender Dion Sanderson at a corner only for the officials to miss the incident.
Mark Robins side produced another lovely move towards the end of the half when Gyokeres scooped the ball into the path of Gus Hamer who cut inside of his man before teeing up Maatsen who saw a low effort well-saved by Sarkic.
The home side picked up where they left off in the second-half when Godden created some space before his powerful shot was pushed behind by Sarkic.
Birmingham were reduced to 10-men on 82 minutes when Ryan Woods brought down Maatsen with a cynical challenge as the wing-back broke forward with referee Leigh Doughty showing the midfielder a straight red card.
Coventry missed a golden chance to win the game when Jamie Allen found Gyokeres down the right-hand side of the penalty area only for the Swede to uncharacteristically blaze the ball over the crossbar.
City had one final chance to win the game when Kyle McFadzean’s firm pass found substitute Tyler Walker in space in the box with the striker wastefully flashing the ball across the face of goal which ensured the game remained goalless.
The Sky Blues return to action away at Bournemouth this weekend on Saturday, November 27 with kick-off at 3pm at the Vitality Stadium.
