How it played out as Sunderland held to entertaining draw against Coventry City

Sunderland were held to an entertaining 0-0 draw by Coventry City on Saturday afternoon in which both sides played some excellent football without being able to find a real cutting edge.

The hosts spurned some good openings through both Matty Godden and substitute Haji Wright, but the visitors also played their way into some excellent positions that they just couldn't convert.

Tony Mowbray's side were in the end good value for their point, particularly given how superbly they defended their box through Dan Ballard and Luke O'Nien.

Mowbray's squad was once again hit heavily by injuries, with no recognised striker and Abdoullah Ba relacing Patrick Roberts out wide.

Sunderland started brightly, a lovely passing move ending with a Bradley Dack effort that flew wide, the attacking midfielder just unable to get the ball out from under his feet well enough to get a shot away.

Both sides looked good in possession when they had it, a game that was tense and of good quality without any real chances.

The home side forged a couple of good chances for Matty Godden, but he was denied the first time by a strong block from Cirkin. The second time he ought to have scored, a long-range effort deflected perfectly into his path. His connection was poor, though, and allowed Patterson to collect easily.

Coventry were beginning to build pressure as the half went on, Sunderland often struggling to play their way out with no real option to go long or over the top. They did have their moments, though, Ba driving one shot far of the wide post and then putting in one low cross that just eluded Bellingham.

Ellis Simms had his first real shot of goal before the break after a quick move through the middle of the pitch, but Patterson saved with his legs to keep the scores level at the break.

It was former Sunderland youngster Ben Wilson's turn to deny the opposition just after the break, denying Neil and then Cirkin at the end of a short corner routine. A smart move moments later saw Dack lay the ball off into the path of Clarke, and his effort was then deflected onto the roof of the net.

The game was beginning to break open, Patterson making relatively comfortable saves first from Godden and then from Palmer after the attacking midfielder made a superb run right through the heart of the pitch.

Though the pace of the game remained frenetic the chances began to slow as both teams turned to their bench, with Sheaf driving a low effort from distance wide of the post in a rare attempt on goal. The hosts thought they were in when a 50-50 challenge broke kindly in their favour, but Patterson did well to stand his ground and then make the save from substitute Wright, whose pace was causing real problems. Ballard then had to be alert to block Godden's effort as the pressure was turned up.

Sunderland were having some good moments of their own on the break, Clarke almost finding Hemir with a low cross but in the end the connection just wasn't strong enough to beat Wilson.

Clarke then forged one last opening as he drove infield from the left, but his effort was blocked and the points ultimately shared.

Sunderland AFC XI: Patterson, Hume, Ballard, O'Nien, Cirkin; Neil, Ekwah (Hemir, 73); Ba (Huggins, 73) , Bellingham, Clarke, Dack (Pritchard, 73)

Subs: Bishop, Huggins, Batth, Embleton, Hemir, Pritchard, Seelt, Triantis, Rigg

Coventry City XI: Wilson; Latibeaudiere, McFadzean, Thomas; van Ewijk, Eccles, Sheaf, Dasilva; Palmer (Ayari, 69), Simms (Wright, 69), Godden

Subs: Collins, Binks, Kelly, Sakamoto, Bidwell, Howley, Rus

Bookings: Ekwah, 9 O'Nien, 13 Palmer, 21 Cirkin, 64 Pritchard, 90

Attendance: 25,714