Sky Blues earn FA Youth Cup second round tie away against Oldham or Accrington
Coventry City Under 18s handed themselves a place in the second round of the FA Youth Cup after a seven-goal thriller against Shrewsbury Town at the Ricoh Arena.
Jack Finch opened the scoring for City four minutes after the half hour with a powerful header and Louis Garner made it two with an impressive strike just before the break.
Shrewsbury got one back almost straight after the restart through George Carpenter only for City skipper Ricky Fletcher to reinstate the two-goal advantage.
Courtney Baker-Richardson made it 4-1 with the help of a deflection from Warren Holmes but a second from Carpenter and one from Shrews sub Kaiman Anderson made it a nervous final few minutes for City.
Although the first half only produced a handful of chances the majority of them went Coventry's way as Ian Foster's side showed more invention and controlled the majority of the first 45 minutes.
Louis Garner registered City's first effort after just two minutes with a lashing drive from 20 yards which just skimmed the foot of the post.
Ben Maund then went close seven minutes later when he was first to a loose ball in the box, his overhead kick just looping over the bar.
City continued to build momentum with some neat passing play in midfield and they carved out another great chance on 21 minutes when Tarik Azille-Moore picked out Ryan Haynes with a through ball, the full back then cutting into the box to fire at goal only to be denied by a good save from Connor Wearing.
Six minutes later it was Leon Lobjoit's turn to have a rack at goal, whistling a 20-yard effort just over the bar.
The Sky Blues deservedly broke the deadlock after 34 minutes though when a corner delivery from Haynes was not cleared properly, allowing Finch to power a header from the loose ball into the net from the penalty spot.
City then forced home their advantage as the game hit first half injury time when Garner picked up the ball on the breakaway and rushed into the final third, opting to shoot instead of laying off to Maund in support and watching his 25-yard effort fly into the bottom corner.
Shrewsbury got a goal back out of nothing though just three minutes after the restart when a left-sided cross was whipped in for Carpenter to get on the end of just four yards from goal.
City reinstated their two-goal cushion just before the hour though when Garner's corner delivery bounced loose in the area for skipper Fletcher to lash home from eight yards.
They then made it four after 62 minutes when Baker-Richardson went flying down the left flank and cut inside before trying to finish from an acute angle.
The Shrewsbury keeper got a hand to it but the ball dribbled under his body with Holmes deflecting the ball into his own net.
Not sooner had Coventry got their fourth, the Shrews got their second when Carpenter doubled his tally for the evening with a stunning strike from 25 yards which gave City 'keeper Shane Fagan no chance.
The visitors then gave themselves a glimmer of hope with a minute to go when substitute Kaiman Anderson raced into a long ball on a quick counter-attack and slipped a finish past Fagan to give the Sky Blues a nervous five minutes of injury time which they saw out to claim a place in the next round.
Teams
Coventry City: Fagan, Lawton, Haynes, Finch, Moore-Azille, Fletcher (c), Maund (Bako 65), Lobjoit, Baker-Richardson, Garner, Rankin
Subs: Gott (GK), Smith, Wiseman, Forrester
Shrewsbury Town: Wearing, Carpenter, Westray, Musselwhite, Smith, Holmes (c), Ryan, Easthope, Molyneux, Evans, Gwilliams
Subs: Jones, Anderson, Richards, Phillips, Stephenson
Bookings: N/A
Referee: D Avent
Assistant Referees: G McFarlane, R Evans