The Sky Blues were held to a goalless draw against Stoke City at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

City came the closest to breaking the deadlock, hitting the woodwork in the first half through an Ellis Simms header.

The opening exchanges of the game saw a battle for possession, as neither side were able to create a clear opening, as the game remained tight.

Stoke's first chance came under bizarre circumstances, as the linesman flagged Dwight Gayle for offside, but play resumed and he slid the ball to Daniel Johnson and his effort was stopped by Brad Collins.

At the other, a City break saw Jake Bidwell whip the ball in towards the back post, with Ellis Simms meeting the ball, only to see his header come back off the outside of the post.

Another chance came the Sky Blues way and this time it was captain for the afternoon Matty Godden who struck a half-volley at goal and Jack Bonham was able to push it behind his goal.

HALF-TIME: Sky Blues 0-0 Stoke City

The resumption of the second half brought along City's best chance of the game. A ball into the box from Matty Godden was met by the head of Haji Wright, but his header went inches over the bar.

High pressure up the field by Josh Eccles saw a misplaced pass at the back from Stoke latched onto by Simms, but he lashed his effort wide of goal.

City introduced Callum O'Hare and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto with 20 minutes remaining, and it was O'Hare who found Wright in the box and the striker looked for goal, but could only find the side netting.

FULL-TIME: Sky Blues 0-0 Stoke City

Yellows: Mehdi Leris, Liam Kitching

Sky Blues Xl: Brad Collins (GK); Joel Latibeaudiere, Bobby Thomas, Liam Kitching, Jake Bidwell; Ben Sheaf, Josh Eccles, Jamie Allen (70' O'Hare); Ellis Simms (70' Sakamoto), Matty Godden, Haji Wright.

Subs: Ben Wilson (GK), Luis Binks, Jay Dasilva, Milan van Ewijk, Liam Kelly, Yasin Ayari, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Callum O'Hare.

Stoke City Xl: Jack Bonham (GK), Ki-Jana Hoever (80' Gooch), Luke McNally, Michael Rose, Enda Stevens, Ben Pearson, Wouter Burger, Mehdi Leris, Daniel Johnson (68' Laurent), Matt Vidigal (68' Jun-ho), Dwight Gayle (59' Mmaee).

Subs: Tommy Simkin, Lynden Gooch, Jordan Thompson, Wesley, Ryan Mmaee, Bae Jun-ho, Ciaran Clark, Josh Laurent, Jason Lowe.