COVENTRY City got their 2009/10 Coca-Cola Championship campaign off to a winning start at the Ricoh Arena with a 2-1 win over Ipswich Town.

Chris Coleman's side reversed the scorelineby which they lost on the last day of last season at Portman Road

Striker Clinton Morrison gave the Sky Blues a two-goal lead with a brace inside the first 25 minutes although Jon Walters closed the gap with a strike for Ipswich just before the half hour.

Ipswich started off the stronger of the two sides, Turner required to stab a toe at the ball infront of the feet of Jamie Walters who was shaping up for a shot in the penalty area in the first minute.

New City signing Patrick van Aanholt gave a glimpse of his capabilities three minutes later though, battling hard to win the ball from Stead in his own half and galloping past the halfway line and putting fellow new boy Michael McIndoe through on the overlap.

McIndoe's resulting cross almost reached van Aanholt but Alex Bruce was on hand to clear the danger.

Morrison took just ten minutes to open the scoring though with a sublime piece of instinctive shooting.

The City hitman stole in to cut out a pass to Richard Wright, who had already committed imself off his line, and shot on the turn from the corner of the penalty area over the heads of Wright and three recovering defenders to slot the ball just inside the top corner of the far post.

He bagged a second on 23 minutes with a goal to showcase his technical ability, Isaac Osbourne putting in a waist high cross from the right and Morrison diving and arching his neck to steer a header past Wright and just inside his near post.

Ipswich pulled a goal back four minutes later, Jon Walters running onto a through ball from Jamie Peters and firing a first time shot past City shotstopper Keiren Westwood from just inside the penalty area.

Peters was quick off the blocks in the second half, first smashing a half volley just wide of Westwood's post three minutes after the restart.

He was onto a backward header from Stead straight afterwards, shooting but Westwood got down to make the close range save.

City also had to withstand a five-minute period of pressure from Ipswich and their set pieces, Pim Blakestein and Walters causing most of the problems.

Balkestein headed wide from a corner on 68 minutes and Walters chipped in with a shot from the corner of the area which marginally swung away from Westwood's far post.

Walters then had a close range header tipped over the bar four minutes later before heading a ball across the box for Balkestein to head at goal only for Osbourne to hack the ball away from the goalmouth.

Lee Martin shot straight at Westwood with ten minutes to go but the Sky Blues were marginally the stronger of the two side heading into the final five minutes, van Aanholt first shooting at Wright from the edge of the area and league debutant Jordan Clarke firing from an acute angle from the edge of the six-yard area only for Wright to get down and smother.

Sammy Clingan displayed a taste of his power from range after being teed up by Aron Gunnarsson with three minutes left, his 30-yard effort palmed away by Wright.

But the Sky Blues still held a sturdy back line for the five minutes of injury time to close out their first win of the 2009/10 season.

Attendance: 16,279 (1,643 away)

Teams

Coventry City: Westwood, Wright, Osbourne, Turner, van Aanholt, Bell (Clarke 62), Gunnarsson, Clingan, McIndoe (Ward 82), Best (Eastwood 60), Morrison
Subs: Konstantopoulos (GK), Cain, Grandison, Jeffers

Ipswich Town: R Wright, Delaney, McAuley (c), Bruce, Martin, Norris (Garvan 55), Peters (Priskin 66), Stead (Wickham 66), Balkestein, Walters, Trotter
Subs: Supple (GK), Wright, Colbeck, Smith