Coventry City 0-1 Derby County
City: O'Brien, Grimmer, Hyam, Davies (McDonald 78), Brown, Doyle, Westbrooke, Shipley, Andreu, (Allassani 71), Ponticelli (Mason 78), Biamou (Clarke-Harris 71),
SUBS: Burge, Camwell, Thompson, Eccles, Hickman.
Derby Roos, Wisdom, Keogh, Lowe, MacDonald, Huddlestone, Thomas, Hanson, Nugent, Johnson, Bennett. Subs: Mitchell, Bogle, Pearce, Davies, Bird, Lesley, Sibley, Mount, Lawrence, Wilson.
ATT 2,044
Goals Bradley Johnson 30
Coventry City failed to score for a third pre-season game in a 1-0 defeat to Derby County.
Liberty Way was the setting for this fixture on a warm evening and the row between Nuneaton who now call themselves Nuneaton Borough and the Rugby club was evident meaning that only one turnstile was open for City supporters.
Many were still coming in as Liam O'Brien was forced into two early saves.
Good work by Max Biamou found Jordan Ponticelli who had a shot blocked by a defender and fired wide in the 26th minute.
The only goal of the game came on the half-hour mark when Bradley Johnson sent a firm header into the net.
Derby made plenty of changes at the break with former City captain Richard Keogh, who had a good ovation from the City support in a bumper crowd of 2,044 which was a crowd Nuneaton could only dream of and one which was probably too many for the ground to handle.
Tom Davies had a good header saved from a free kick in the 52nd minute and made a good block in the 64th minute. However, the assistant spotted a handball and Tom Lawrence stepped up. Liam O'Brien went to his left and saved the spot kick,
Reise Allassani, Jonson Clarke-Harris, Rod McDonald and Brendan Mason came on as darkness started to descend and supporters were using lights on their phones in order to shed some light on the proceedings.
The Sky Blues did force a corner and Allassani, or I think it was as it was hard to tell in the poor light. It did prompt for a "We've Had A Shot" chant from the City support.
Another corner saw the City support urging Liam O'Brien forward. That was scrambled away and gave Derby a free kick and that was the end of that, leaving the supporters to carefully make their way out of a ground in semi-darkness.
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