Mark Robins’ side have earned a hard-fought point at Mansfield Town’s One Call Stadium despite playing 75 minutes with ten-men.
Jonson Clarke-Harris penalty, which he won himself, brought City level with 15 minutes to go after Kane Hemmings first half goal gave the home side the lead.
“That was the brightest we have started for a while,” said Robins.
“We tried to play a certain way and make sure that we nullified what they are good at. We did that, except for one ball through put on the back foot and Jordan Willis ended up stretching and reaching for it.
“We were then down to ten men. The players kept their head and kept going. We spoke at half-time about staying in the game and making sure that we were passing the ball and that earned us a way back in with the penalty.
“Clarke-Harris stuck it away brilliantly. It was a deserved point. We showed great battling qualities all the way through. We put some decent balls into the penalty area and we worked the ball really well down the left-hand side particularly.
“We were unfortunate not get a second, even. It was not to be, but this is a great point.”
Despite the early red card, Lee Burge was relatively untested in the Sky Blues goal and Robins’ side could have won the game but for a late tackle by Krystian Pearce on Jordan Ponticelli.
“There was not really any major threat on our goal,” said Robins.
“Their main threat was down the left-hand side with CJ Hamilton, so we needed the get the balance right and Jack Grimmer always copes with that. Dom Hyam has had some game time lately and he has more today.
“Then we just wanted to try and keep out two strikers on so that we had a goal threat. It was really early on to lose a defender like Jordan against a team that are flying.
He added: “This is a great point for us. We will take this and in adversity, a terrific performance.”