COVENTRY CITY 1-1 PORTSMOUTH
City: Murphy, Adams, Christie, Edjenguele, Wood, Baker, Jennings, Moussa, Bailey, McSheffrey (Barton 78), McGoldrick. Subs Dunn, Clarke, Cameron, McDonald, Fleck, O'Donovan.
Portsmouth:Cisak; Dumbuya (Webster 66), Michalik, Rocha, Harley; Russell, Howard (c), Ertl; Allan (Mendez-Laing 46); Benson (Jarvis 62), McLeod Subs: Eastwood, Gyepes, Walker, Harris,
HT CCFC 1-0 PFC
FT CCFC 1-1 PFC
GOALS McSheffrey 40, McLeod 93
ATT 11,295
Referee G.Salisbury
Booked Harley, Edjenguele, Howard
Man Of The Match - Blair Adams and William Edjenguele tied the votes with nominations for Baker, McSheffrey and Bailey
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Coventry City were made to pay for not putting away their chances by a stoppage time goal which saw Portsmouth leaving the Ricoh Arena with a 1-1 draw.
In pouring rain, an unchanged City team took to the pitch against a Portsmouth side in gold shirts and black shorts.
A bigger than normal crowd made plenty of noise as the match got underway, partly helped by drummers in both block 15 and the away end.
It was a thoroughly entertaining first half and saw a third minute corner for City come to nothing. Portsmouth had a corner five minutes later when the dependable Cyrus Christie cleared for a corner after McLeod had been allowed to turn inside the box at the North Stand end.
Mark Robins had played some free flowing football in the second half at Hartlepool and in patches against Colchester, and this continued with the Pompey keeper beating a shot away, Baker having a go on goal and Richard Wood heading a corner into the side netting as City camped themselves in the end nearest the away fans.
Baker, who was a handful early on, forcing another save from the keeper as the Sky Blues won a corner and another following a McSheffrey free kick.
The fifth corner came in the 17th minute and a minute later, debutant Cisak managed to catch the next corner.
Corner number seven came in the 19th minute (surely some record since we moved to the Ricoh) as this great spell of pressure continued.
Corners and pressure are all well and good but goals are what win matches and in the 40th minute, City, who able to attack at will and get players forward, took the lead when Gary McSheffrey broke through and put the ball past Cisak.
However, Portsmouth used the break to regroup and have a re-think on their tactics which included making a substitution.
They were first to attack in the second half, which saw the referee and assistants now wearing black shirts after being in yellow for the first half, but in the 51st minute, David McGoldrick raced through and it took a neat push from Cisak to concede the first of three corners.
The third looked to have produced a goal when Edjenguele's header was headed off the line by Harley, who appeared to be well inside the goal when he headed away. The Frenchman appealed but nothing was given and City were still a goal ahead and in need of a second as the South Coast side were creating more issues for Edjenguele, Wood and the rest of the City defence to deal with.
On the hour mark, Moussaa fired over and the side temporarily managed by Guy Whittingham had one chance.
Pompey, whose supporters trust had provided some good speakers at a pre-game meeting, continued to threaten and in the 72nd minute, they were given a free kick four yards from goal when Joe Murphy for reasons known only to himself, picked up a back pass.
It took four minutes for the referee to be happy with the players pushing and shoving. More encroachment saw the kick re-taken and then the shot was finally deflected for a corner.
Joe Murphy dived to his left to push away a shot before Robins sent on Adam Barton on for the final 12 minutes plus the five minutes that the referee would add on.
Blair Adams continued to do well at the back in a tight City defence which was involved in a great move in the 86th minute which saw Baker cross, missing McGoldrick who had a quiet game by his standards by millimetres.
Then, more good work by Christie saw Baker thump the bar and McGoldrick fire the loose ball into the net. Unfortunately, the flag in the hand of the assistant in front of the East Stand was up and that second goal that City needed was correctly ruled out.
All the City supporters in the rain lashed ground would have taken a win but in the third minute of stoppage time, Izale McLeod got through and gave Pompey a last gasp equaliser and City were made to pay for not putting their chances away yet again.