Tenacious Coventry City steal late point to extend unbeaten league start

On Saturday, local side Coventry City battled to a more-than-deserved 1-1 draw at home to Norwich City to extend their unbeaten start to the new Sky Bet Championship campaign.

After Danish forward Mathias Kvistgaarden had put the visitors in front early on, the Sky Blues dominated the vast majority of the possession but struggled to overcome some dogged Norwich defending and tactical use of gamesmanship.

The away side’s time-wasting was to cost them dearly, though, as Coventry’s Haji Wright made amends for a number of spurned chances earlier on by equalising in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time.

Eager to remedy a minor slump in form that saw them bow out of the Carabao Cup and drop two points late on at Oxford United before the international break, Frank Lampard’s side began proceedings very much on the front foot.

The second half began in much the same fashion with Coventry the protagonists

Ephron Mason-Clark was unlucky not to open the scoring five minutes in when his diving header struck the foot of Vladan Kovačević’s post, and came close yet again moments later when his well-hit effort was narrowly deflected over.

Despite the home side’s positive start, it was the visitors who stole the lead after 17 minutes against the run of play. Picking up possession just inside the attacking half, Norwich centre-back Jakov Medić threaded a tidy through-ball to Kvistgaarden, whose left-footed effort trickled beyond Coventry keeper Carl Rushworth into the bottom corner.

The Dane’s first goal in English football, combined with the time-wasting antics of the streetwise Kovačević and Kellen Fisher, saw the Canaries head into the break ahead, well on their way to a fourth consecutive away win under new boss Liam Manning.

It seemed that Norwich’s disciplined defence would not be beaten

However, the second half began in much the same fashion with Coventry the protagonists, Wright almost converting from Milan van Ewijk’s incisive delivery after an hour. The American forward was soon guilty of wasting yet another golden opportunity, blazing over from close range after being picked out by Tatsuhiro Sakamoto.

These chances, which would ultimately see Coventry carve out a huge 28 shots on goal, kept on coming, but it seemed that Norwich’s disciplined defence would not be beaten. Brandon Thomas-Asante was denied by a sprawling Kovačević 15 minutes from time, before neither Thomas-Asante nor Ellis Simms could convert from another inviting ball from the productive van Ewijk moments later.

Wright finally found the net from point-blank range after Harry Darling was carelessly caught in possession

Yet, thanks to Norwich’s gamesmanship deployed throughout much of the afternoon, Coventry were awarded a lifeline when fourth official Oliver Mackey indicated there would be a minimum of nine minutes of additional time to conclude the game.

Only six of those nine were needed, though, as Wright finally found the net from point-blank range after Harry Darling, so stubborn and composed all game, was carelessly caught in possession inside his own box.

Lampard cut a frustrated figure after full-time, lamenting his side’s missed opportunities and referee Gavin Ward’s failure to punish Norwich’s time-wasting tactics.

“I thought [the equaliser] was the least we deserved. We played absolutely fantastic against a good team,” he continued.

Having rescued a richly-deserved point in their first outing since the international break, Coventry make the short trip up the M69 to the King Power Stadium this weekend to face local rivals Leicester City.