The Sky Blues were held to a goalless draw on a wet and blustery afternoon at the University of Bolton Stadium.
The first opening of the game came on three minutes when Wesley Jobello made a driving run in-field before finding Jordan Shipley who drilled an effort wide from 20 yards out.
The home side had their first shot of the afternoon on 10 minutes when Dennis Politic’s long-range effort failed to trouble Marko Marosi in the Sky Blues goal.
A clever flick from Shipley then found Brandon Mason in space with 20 minutes on the clock as the full-back hit a low effort inches wide of the post from the edge of the penalty area.
The Sky Blues had a goal disallowed on 29 minutes after Jobello thought he had tapped the ball home at the back post, following an excellent team move, only for it to be ruled for offside following a lengthy discussion between the referee and linesman.
Marosi then made a superb save, low down to his right hand-side, to deny Callum King-Harmes the opening goal.
A cleverly worked corner from Zain Westbrooke found Shipley in space inside the penalty area who saw his fierce effort pushed over the bar by Bolton keeper Matthew Alexander.
Captain Liam Kelly almost broke the deadlock minutes before half-time but saw effort from 10 yards out, on the slide, pushed away by Alexander.
Less than a minute later Amadou Bakayoko saw his goal bound effort blocked, after getting in behind the Bolton defence, to send the teams in level at the interval.
The Sky Blues continued to dominate early in the second half, when Jobello took an excellent first touch before shooting over the crossbar on 51 minutes.
A second City effort was ruled out on 53 minutes after Bakayoko had scrambled the ball home from close range with the officials once again consulting before ruling the goal out for offside.
After having two quickfire penalty appeals waved away by referee James Adcock, manager Mark Robins made a double change on the hour mark, handing a debut to Matt Godden as well as introducing Max Biamou from the substitutes bench.
Debutant Godden almost made an immediate impact but was unable to hook Shipley’s cross to the back post into the net.
Fellow substitute Biamou was next to test the Bolton goal with Alexander equal to his free-kick attempt from 25 yards out.
After a good spell of pressure in the Bolton half, Shipley shot wide of the goal with 15 minutes remaining before Westbrooke saw another effort blocked.
When City were presented with another free-kick opportunity, Shipley shot powerfully over the bar before Godden latched onto a long ball over the top from Marosi but poked an effort just wide of the post.
With six minutes left to play, Jobello powered another effort at goal after darting into the penalty area but was once again denied by Alexander.
Moments later Alexander once again kept the scores level after Kyle McFadzean’s long ball up-field was nodded down into the path of Kelly, by Godden, who placed an effort straight at the Bolton stopper.
Marosi saved a tame header from Eddie Brown in the final minute of the game before Biamou saw an effort blocked deep into injury-time.
The linesman deemed Biamou to be offside with virtually the final kick of the game when he finished past Alexander, ruling out a third City goal.
Yellows: Brown 18’, Dabo 30’, Weir 59’, Darcy 82’, Politic 86’
Attendance: 8,901 (1,915 Sky Blues fans)
Sky Blues XI: Marko Marosi (GK), Fankaty Dabo, Kyle McFadzean, Michael Rose, Brandon Mason, Liam Kelly (C), Zain Westbrooke (Bapaga 87’), Jordan Shipley, Wesley Jobello, Amadou Bakayoko (Godden 60’), Jordy Hiwula (Biamou 60’).
Unused Subs: Ben Wilson, Dom Hyam, Sam McCallum, Josh Eccles.
Bolton Wanderers XI: Matthew Alexander (GK), James Weir, Harry Brockbank (C), Dennis Politic, Liam Edwards, Ronan Darcy, Yoan Zouma, Eddie Brown, Sonny Graham, Callum King-Harmes, Joe White.
Subs: Luke Hutchinson (GK), Jordan Boon, Adam Senior, Finlay Hurford-Lockett, De’Marlio Brown-Sterling, D’Neal Richards, Regan Riley.