George Thomas' strike won the game for the Sky Blues who saw James Maddison, Blair Turgott and Conor Thomas get valuable minutes...
Coventry City Under-21s recorded an impressive victory against Ipswich Town as James Maddison returned from injury.
The Sky Blues dominated the vast majority of the game and George Thomas' close-range finish gave Dave Hockaday's a narrow victory under the lights at Portman Road.
In wet and windy conditions in Suffolk, City looked a class above their Championship opponents.
Dominant through much of the first-half, James Maddison was always going to grab the headlines on his first appearance in a City shirt since December.
His link-play saw Blair Turgott, fresh from his match-winning cameo appearance against Peterborough United on Saturday, almost open the scoring when he received the ball on the edge of the area but his low effort was deflected wide in the 7th minute.
The Sky Blues were playing with a confidence on an impressive pitch as centre-back Cian Harries picked passes out of defence and Aaron Phillips provided great width on the right side.
Turgott had another low shot, this time saved by returning Ipswich Town goalkeeper Dean Gerken, in the 11th minute before Ryan Haynes blazed over after impressive build-up play just three minutes later.
The chances continued to flow for City as Haynes glanced wide from a Maddison free-kick before the returning City forward produced a fantastic piece of skill to get away from two defenders to fire towards goal, only to see Gerken at full stretch on the half-hour.
Ipswich had two chances through Dario Zanata and Dylan Connolly before City's sensational link-play almost brought them the lead on the stroke of half-time.
Turgott collected the ball on the right and fed George Thomas who flicked the ball into the path of Maddison but he saw his powerful strike come off the left-hand post.
The second-half continued in the same vein and the away side got the lead their play deserved ten minutes into the half.
Conor Thomas found Ryan Haynes in plenty of space on the left which he exploited to produce a wonderful cross for the unmarked George Thomas to slot home.
Maddison, Turgott and Conor Thomas were all substituted on the hour-mark with the visit of Leyton Orient on Wednesday in the back of the minds of the City coaching staff.
Jordan Shipley, Kyle Spence and Bassala Sambou were all introduced and despite the average age of the side dropping, the style continued to flow.
A 20-pass move which seemed to involve every City player saw Spence cross for Aaron Phillips who had advanced from right-back and had his volley blocked in the 66th minute.
The Sky Blues had late pressure to defend but recorded a comfortable victory in Suffolk ahead of their next game against Charlton Athletic on Thursday.
Teams
Coventry City U21s: Charles-Cook (GK), Phillips, Lawton, Harries, Haynes, C. Thomas (Shipley 60), Bangura, Finch, Turgott (Sambou 60), Maddison (Spence 60), G. Thomas.
Subs not used: Addai (GK), Dev. Kelly-Evans.
Ipswich Town: Gerkin (GK), Hewitt, O'Connor, Gudbrandson (Blaglock 75), Fowler, Clarke (C), Hammond, Benyu, Zanata (McQueen 46), Connolly (Ramadan 75), Henshall.
Subs not used: Crowe (GK), Robinson.