Coventry City vs Cardiff City. Sky Bet Championship.
The Coventry Building Society ArenaAttendance21,421.
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Coventry and Cardiff City at the Coventry Building Society Arena as the Sky Blues and the Bluebirds played out a goalless draw.
Thursday 29 December 2022 23:37, UK
Cardiff held Coventry to a 0-0 draw at the Coventry Building Society Arena to record their fourth draw in succession in the Sky Bet Championship.
The Championship's lowest scorers were without top marksman Callum Robinson, who failed to make the matchday squad, as did Kion Etete.
The former Spurs striker was replaced by Mark Harris in the starting line-up, who looked lively in the opening minutes when he saw a header saved by Ben Wilson before cutting into the box and drilling a low shot into the arms of the Sky Blues' goalkeeper.
Captain Joe Ralls also looked to set the Bluebirds on their way to a first win in seven, but his early effort from range was blocked for a corner.
The home side came closest through Ben Sheaf, whose poked shot hit the outside of the post in the first half after some tenacious work from Viktor Gyokeres on the by-line.
Former Swansea loanee Kasey Palmer had been included in Coventry's line-up with Mark Robins admitting he was "fearing the worst" for key midfielder Callum O'Hare after he was stretchered off with a knee injury against Sheffield United on Boxing Day.
There was also a return to the XI for Fankaty Dabo, who started for the first time since a 2-2 draw with Rotherham in October.
The powerful Palmer had the Sky Blues' first chance of the evening when his shot flashed wide after he was teed up by Gustavo Hamer, who himself forced former Coventry loanee Ryan Allsop to beat away his long-range effort.
Sky Blues skipper Jamie Allen started and finished a move which came agonisingly close to putting the hosts in front when he won possession high up the pitch and picked out Gyokeres.
The Swede then found Palmer who slipped in Allen, but the midfielder's turn and shot whistled centimetres wide of the post as Coventry sought to break the deadlock.
Mark Hudson's men remained a threat on the break through Harris, who got the wrong side of Callum Doyle before turning and setting up Jaden Philogene-Bidace, but the Aston Villa loanee could only skew his effort high and wide of Wilson's goal.
Following a quiet first half in front of goal, Coventry's top scorer Gyokeres met Jake Bidwell's brilliant cross but could only head wide of Allsop's right-hand post.
Earlier, the former Swansea left-back had picked out Palmer with a cross, who took the ball down inside the box but his left-footed shot was saved by the busy Allsop as Cardiff escaped the West Midlands with a fourth draw on the bounce.
Coventry's Mark Robins: "It was a clean sheet, there were some good performances, we were the team trying to win it, on a difficult surface. It is two days-play, two days-play. It just puts people at risk and we haven't got enough in terms of numbers and people being available to make changes to win football matches.
"The lads have done brilliantly, all of them, but they need some help.January, when it comes around, we need some help, we need to get some bodies in because we are not going to have the injured lads back for a while anyway."
Cardiff's Mark Hudson: "We said at the end when you don't particularly play well with the ball, don't get beat. Clean sheet at this ground against a very, very good Coventry side, good manager, huge experience in the game, for me, the best in-form striker in the league as well shows that they're putting their bodies on the line for the club. We turned it over a little bit too much, put the ball at risk too much, went through where their strength was with the box in midfield. We got trapped a bit sometimes, and decision making, which we went through again at half-time."
"You've got to put your body on the line, show togetherness, keep compact distances. We've had fatigue, a few crampy issues, the lads looked tired but they kept going, players playing out of position and that's testament to them. It's not always going to be us in control, especially when you come to places like this. It's a minimum requirement to give everything for each other, they fought for each other and the two centre-halves were excellent. A really good battling performance. We are giving ourselves a platform to go and get points from games, if we continue to work like that and work together, it will come."
