COVENTRY City manager Aidy Boothroyd said the Sky Blues' 1-0 friendly win over Northampton Town at Sixfields Stadium marked a big step forward.

Defender James McPake returned to the side to score the only goal of the game after six minutes as City kept a fourth consecutive pre-season clean sheet.

"It was a big step forward for us but we are still a work in progress with me getting to know the players and vice versa and getting the players comfortable with the way I want us to play," Boothroyd said.

"In terms of our work rate, character and spirit I thought it was absolutely terrific. We showed alot of quality despite a few mistakes being made but that's what happens when you try and concentrate on working on specific things so in all I was very pleased.

"It's a nice habit to also be keeping clean sheets although I thought we rode our luck in the first half a little bit with a couple of free kicks but we haven't really worked on set pieces yet.

"This is all about taking our time and working on things piece by piece so by the time Portsmouth comes around we've covered everything we feel we need to work on."

Check out Aidy Boothroyd's FULL post match interview on Sky Blues Player NOW!!!