City’s starting 11 included 5 new signings and the Grecians started the game well. Tom Carroll made an impressive start with sharp short passes and was equally impressive when pressing the Coventry midfield. Ryan Trevitt also looked equally comfortable on the ball.

As the minutes passed, Coventry grew into the game and in the 17th minute, a promising attack resulted in a good opportunity for the Sky Blues, but Sweeney was quickly across to block the shot.

Kasey Palmer was causing City problems with his slick passing and physical presence. He was always looking for the defence splitting pass with both Ellis Simms & Matt Godden managing to get in behind the City defence on a few occasions.

When Coventry did break through the lines, they were met by Viljami Sinisalo, who enjoyed a very good afternoon. The young goalkeeper didn’t do as well as he would have liked during his loan spell at Burton Albion last season, but the Finnish international (on loan from Aston Villa) certainly showed what he was capable of with a confident display. City fans will be hoping that there will more of the same to come from their new keeper.

Alex Hartridge had to be alert in the 33rd minute, when Simms got in behind the City defence and squared the ball across to Godden. The city defender managed to nip in ahead of the Coventry striker and cleared the ball into the Big Bank.

In what was a testing few minutes for City, the same combination needed to be thwarted again with Simms running in behind and laying back to Godden, who fired a good shot which was saved impressively by Sinisalo.

City created some attacking opportunities just before half time, with Sweeney’s heading over the bar from a floated Trevitt free kick. Shortly after, the Coventry keeper inexplicably passed the ball directly to James Scott, who hit an ambitious first time shot which unfortunately dropped just wide of the goal.

At the half time interval, Scott was replaced by Reece Cole. The Grecians altered their formation and added the extra man in midfield, pushing Jack Aitchison up alongside Nombe.

The move paid immediate dividends with City getting on the ball more and Cole making an impressive start. His dead ball delivery should be an asset to City this season and he looks a technically gifted player.

Cole crossed for Nombe in the 50th minute but unfortunately the much coveted City striker could only steer his header wide of the goal.

Aitchison also seemed to benefit from being moved further up the pitch. He had struggled to impose himself on the game in the 1st half, but was finding more pockets of space in the 2nd and helped put extra pressure on the Coventry back line.

The 64th minute saw a flurry of substitutes, with Coventry making multiple changes and Vincent Harper replacing Demitri Mitchell for another SJP debut.

Coventry opened the deadlock in the 66th minute with a goal from the dangerous Godden from a corner kick. It was very difficult to tell how the ball ended up in the net from the Big Bank, but the goal looked soft and avoidable.

The Sky Blues broke through the City backline a minute later, with a through ball splitting Sweeney & Aimson. I am sure Grecians boss Caldwell would have been disappointed with how easily Cov got through, but Godden was again met by Viljami who stood his ground and made another very good save.

The most pleasing moment of the afternoon came in the 76th minute when Kyle Taylor entered the fray to huge cheers from the Big Bank, 16 months on since his injury at Oldham Athletic. Caldwell has praised Taylor for his dedication and hard work in returning from injury and exclaimed that he felt like a new signing for him.

Taylor made an impressive cameo, looking comfortable on the ball and causing Coventry problems with his direct running.

City equalised in the 79th minute via new boy Harper. The speedy left back got to the touchline and looped a ball to the back post, where Rankine was poised to convert. However, the ball clipped the inside of the post and made it’s way into the net to give City a deserved goal.

The game appeared to be heading for a draw, but in the 93rd minute, Ben Sheaf managed to curl a shot around Sinisalo into the bottom left corner of the net.

The last minute goal was hard to take for City after fighting back valiantly after going a goal down. It should not detract from an otherwise promising performance though against a team who almost made the Premier League last season.

There are still improvements needed. The back line struggled to contain the runs of Godden & Simms at times, but it’s also important to note they won’t be up against their quality each week. Simms recently signed from Everton for a fee of £8 million.

The forward position still looks to need strengthening as well, with City struggling to create clear cut chances. City will be relying on Nombe to get them goals again this season. It would benefit Nombe if we could take some of the pressure off of him and sign another striker capable of hitting 15 league goals (whether permanently or on loan).

My Man Of The Match – Viljami Sinisalo