Sky Blues suffer first defeat of pre-season tour with late goal at Clachnacuddin
Coventry City suffered their first defeat of their pre-season tour of Scotland after a late winner from Ross County's Steven Craig.
City went closest to opening the scoring with testing strikes from Roy O'Donovan and Carl Baker but County had their chances as well only to be denied by solid goalkeeping from Coventry 'keeper Chris Dunn.
Boss Andy Thorn named an almost completely changed side for for the friendly with the SPL side with O'Donovan, Conor Thomas and John Fleck the three unchanged names on the teamsheet from last night's 5-0 win over Brora Rangers.
And after 20 minutes of steady exchanges it was O'Donovan who managed to craft the first real chance of the game on 23 minutes, drawing his marker across the area before pulling a shot back across the face of goal and forcing a low one-handed save out of County 'keeper Michael Fraser.
Carl Baker was next with a stinging drive from 20 yards just after the half hour which Fraser had to tip over his bar.
The hosts built chances of their own though, first when Dunn had to go to ground to deny Martin Scott's shot fromthe edge of the area.
Stuart Kettlewell also kept the City shotstopper on his toes with a snatched shot which threatened to sneak inside the near post.
City started the second half well and Baker forced another smart save just before the hour with a lashed effort that Fraser had to get down to save.
Good interplay between Fleck and Gary McSheffrey then very nearly opened up the County defence but for a last ditch to stop McSheffrey getting a shot off.
Conor Thomas then went close on 73 minutes, his first time effort from the corner of the area threatening to loop over Fraser who tipped over the bar.
County turned the tide slightly inside the last ten minutes though, forcing a series of corners which City kept beating away.
The hosts got the only goal of the game though with just two minutes left when Steven Craig fired inside Dunn's near post.
Team: Dunn, Hussey, Wood, Malaga, Clarke, Baker, Fleck, Kilbane, Thomas, McSheffrey, O'Donovan (Jeffers 45)