The Sky Blues Under-23s travelled to Millwall U23s earlier this week, as were in action in the Professional Development League South.
The fixture was moved from the usual U23s base at Millwall; which is Dartford FC, to the clubs training ground, as the fixture was played behind closed doors.
City took several first team players to the game in London, including the latest transfer addition, in the form of the returning Jonson Clarke-Harris.
However, the Sky Blues fell a goal behind early on in the game when Kristian Brymora opened the scoring for the hosts.
But, it wasn’t long until City were back in the game, as a few minutes later, Clarke-Harris was back amongst the goals in a Sky Blue shirt, as he drew the score level.
Another returning player on the pitch was Tim Cahill, who was back with the Lions for the first time and was on the scoresheet to make it 2-1, when he found the back of the net from close range.
Moments before the half-time whistle and City were level, as Kyel Reid, who was also making his first appearance in a Sky Blue shirt since his loan move at Colchester United ended, equalised just before the break.
The Sky Blues pushed to pull ahead in the game and were almost in front, but Millwall ‘keeper Harry Girling made a double save to deny Clarke-Harris from getting his second of the game and Coventry’s third.
Then, with a matter of seconds left on the clock, Millwall found a winner when Harry Donovan drove a shot from the edge of the area past Corey Addai, to mean City would come away empty handed.
Talking after the game, U23s boss Jason Farndon admitted his disappointment at the sucker punch at the end of the game and the fact his side came away empty handed.
He said: “It was a disappointing loss, I thought we thoroughly deserved to win the game and we had chance after chance throughout, but we didn’t kill the game off and then they obviously went on and scored with the last kick of the game.
“On a positive note, we were able to get minutes into some first team players, such as Jonson Clarke-Harris and he has played the full 90 minutes and has managed to get himself a goal and I thought he did well, as well as Kyel Reid who also scored and played the full 90.
“The game had a different dynamic, as we were trying to get some first team players minutes and the team was a little bit imbalanced because we had a lot of attacking players in the team which needed minutes so it left us a little bit vulnerable in the middle of park.
“It’s a weird situation, because sometimes you have a different squad each week, so we have some development players and some of the younger first team lads and at this club it’s about developing all players, not just the youngsters, it’s also for those first team players who aren’t getting in the side at the moment and making sure we get them ready for the manager.”
Farndon is a familiar face for the returning Clarke-Harris, as he was part of the coaching team at the club in the Academy when the striker was here first time round.
Having featured for the full 90 minutes for the Under-23s and being able to get on the scoresheet, Jase is confident he can make an impact on the first team.
He added: “Some people have some pre-conceived ideas about Jonson but he’s a great kid and when you have him on side he is all for the team.
“I think he can add pace power and hopefully goals to the team from now until the end of the season.”