A game of few chances, the Sky Blues withstood late pressure from the visitors to earn a draw and maintain their current run of positive results.
Mark Robins named an unchanged side for Tuesday night’s meeting with Luton Town, following the weekend’s imperious 3-1 win over Rotherham United.
The game began at a high intensity without yielding any clear opportunities in the opening phases. It was Luton who had the first sight of goal on 9 minutes when Gus Hamer’s backwards header was compromised by an alert Harry Cornick. The winger was expertly denied a one-on-one chance inside the box by an impressive off-the-toe interception from Dom Hyam.
City continued to press forward throughout the first 20 minutes, despite being met with Luton’s stringent defence. Callum O’Hare sought to break through the backline with a darting run inside from the left flank. Finding space, his long-range strike was deflected out for a corner, with both Leo Ostigard and Kyle McFadzean threatening from the subsequent corners.
O’Hare was again the man to ignite the Sky Blues’ attack, minutes later. Coming off the right, he occupied several Luton players 20 yards from goal, before playing a cute ball to Tyler Walker, whose snapshot struck the post for City’s best chance of the first-half.
On the half hour mark, a Sam McCallum long throw caused chaos in the Luton area. Flicked on by Ostigard, the ball made its way to O’Hare in a central position before City’s creative spark fired his shot over the bar.
Luton were keen to remind the Sky Blues that they were still in the game, as City began to dominate possession. The away side worked the ball to the right flank, curling a cross towards the back post. Luke Berry won the ball in the air, heading back across goal for James Collins, but the striker fired his volley over the crossbar from six yards.
A couple of similarly threatening crosses from Harry Cornick were flashed across Ben Wilson’s goal but evaded Luton’s attack, with the Sky Blues letting out a collective sigh of relief as half-time approached.
Luton ended the first-half as the stronger side, with Collins working another chance to give Luton the lead, before the break. The Republic of Ireland number 9 improvised a backheel effort from a front-post corner, but saw his attempt roll narrowly wide of City’s goal.
HALF-TIME: SKY BLUES 0-0 LUTON TOWN
The game adopted a more aggressive temperament after the restart, with the Sky Blues being awarded several free-kicks as they attempted to dart away from their Luton counterparts.
City began to regain something resembling a stronghold in the game as it approached the hour mark. A patient build-up from City resulted in Gus Hamer having the first shot on target of the half from 30-plus yards, which was collected by Luton ‘keeper James Shea.
Creating one of the few clear-cut chances in the game on 59 minutes, Frankaty Dabo whipped in a pinpoint cross from the right towards Max Biamou, who met the cross in space, but his full-force header whistled wide of the front post.
Despite having created a couple of promising chances, the game fell into an archetypal midfield battle midway through the second-half. Not lacking endeavour, both sides continued to test their opponent’s defence from the flanks and set pieces but failed to trouble either goalkeeper.
Approaching the final stages, it was a perfectly-timed Liam Kelly header that maintained City’s cleansheet. Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu lofted in a dangerous cross from the left, towards Dan Potts who had made a run on the nearside. However, the Sky Blues captain marshalled the full-back away from the ball to steer the ball narrowly wide of the far post to keep the game goalless.
FULL-TIME: SKY BLUES 0-0 LUTON TOWN
Yellows: Luke Berry, Gus Hamer, Liam Kelly, Dan Potts,
Sky Blues XI: Ben Wilson (GK), Fankaty Dabo, Leo Ostigard, Kyle McFadzean, Dom Hyam, Sam McCallum, Liam Kelly (C), Gustavo Hamer, Callum O’Hare (Shipley, 78’), Tyler Walker (Bakayoko, 88’), Max Biamou
Unused Subs: Lee Camp (GK), Julien Dacosta, Josh Pask, Ryan Giles, Ben Sheaf, Jamie Allen, Wesley Jobello
Luton Town XI: James Shea (GK), Dan Potts, Sonny Bradley (C), Glenn Rea, Tom Lockyer, Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu, Harry Cornick (Nombe, 85’), Joe Morrell, Luke Berry (Dewsbury-Hall, 71’), Jordan Clark, James Collins
Unused Subs: Harvey Instead (GK), Brendan Galloway, Ryan Tunnicliffe, George Moncur, Sam Beckwith, Kazenga Lualua, Elliott Lee