Town threw away a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Coventry. Darren Currie and Jimmy Juan put the Blues ahead but Gary McSheffrey and Lilian Nalis netted either side of the break. Nicky Forster appeared to have scored the winner late on but the referee deemed the ball not to have crossed the line.

Joe Royle rested skipper Jim Magilton and dropped Fabian Wilnis and Sam Parkin to the bench, switching back to a 4-4-2 formation. In came Owen Garvan at the centre of midfield, Matt Richards on the left and Adam Proudlock in for a first start up front.

Chances were rare in the opening stages, former Blue James Scowcroft's deflected 13th minute effort the first serious strike of the game. Ten minutes later McSheffrey shot over from the edge of the area.

On 24 the Blues lost Owen Garvan to an ankle injury, the Irish youngster having been caught from behind by Stephen Hughes a few minutes earlier. Jimmy Juan took over in the centre of midfield.

Four minutes later Town were in front in very similar circumstances to Crewe's recent goal at Portman Road. Darren Currie sent in a freekick from wide on the left which passed through a crowded box untouched and nestled in the corner of Stephen Bywater's net.

The goal gave the previously stuttering Blues a massive boost and just before the half hour good work down the right from Jimmy Juan almost set up Nicky Forster. However, the former Reading man was unable to turn and get in his shot on the edge of the area.

Soon after, Forster dispossessed Matt Heath halfway inside the Coventry half, took the ball round Bywater and slipped the ball just wide of the post. Referee Trevor Kettle adjudged that the striker had fouled Heath and awarded a freekick.

Sito hit a shot from the right which Bywater saved, then Currie sent a 30-yard freekick over the bar. At the other end, Price saved a powerful Hughes half-volley from the edge of the box.

On 39, the Blues went two goals ahead. Horlock whipped in a freekick from the right and Jimmy Juan rose unmarked - looking remarkably like a latter day Mich D'Avray - to head the ball beyond Bywater.

It was all Town at this stage with Coventry clearly shaken by the goals. Forster almost scored a third, bustling through a number of tackles but stabbing his shot wide.

As the game entered injury time, Michael Doyle's shot was too hot for Lewis Price to hold but Jay McEveley reacted quickest to belt the ball clear.

With seconds remaining before the break, Coventry pulled a goal back. A corner was sent in from the left and, like Currie's earlier freekick, flew through a crowd of players and reached McSheffrey who shot into the net from a tight angle beyond the far post.

Town replaced Kevin Horlock with Sam Parkin at half-time, the midfielder having picked up what appeared to be a rib injury colliding with Lilian Nalis shortly before the end of the first half.

Parkin joined Forster up front, Proudlock moved to wide on the right, Darren Currie to the left and Matt Richards to the centre, a position he used to occupy regularly during his days in the academy.

Richards wasn't far from a goal five minutes into the second period, the 20-year-old meeting Currie's cross from the left at the far post with his head but a defender blocking.

Nicky Forster volleyed Sito's cross to Bywater, then the summer free signing was played in on the left by Richards. The striker cut in but sent his shot across the face of goal.

Jimmy Juan was booked for a late tackle on Scowcroft in the 54th minute. From the freekick Dele Adebola had the ball in the net but the linesman's flag had already been raised.

But a legitimate Coventry goal wasn't much longer in coming. In the 56th minute Jay McEveley lost Adebola at the far post, the former Birmingham man headed Michael Doyle's left-wing cross back into the six-yard box and Lilian Nalis scored from close range.

Two minutes later, Juan wasn't far from scoring his second goal of the game. Currie sent in another dangerous freekick which the Frenchman met at the far post, Bywater catching the ball but almost taking it over his line as he did so.

McSheffrey turned McEveley with worrying ease in the 62nd minute but shot into the sidenet, prior to Proudlock heading Currie's left-wing cross off Nicky Forster who couldn't react in time before the ball was cleared.

Currie was close to scoring what would have been the Town goal of the season in the 68th minute, zigzagging his way past a number of defenders before Matt Heath blocked his finish.

McSheffrey beat Price in the 69th minute but had pulled Sito back as he seized on the ball on the edge of the box. The game had become very open with both sides looking dangerous when on the attack.

Proudlock's cross-shot flew over the bar three minutes later, then Town felt they had scored the winner when De Vos returned a corner into the box, Parkin headed down and Forster's close range finish was bundled away by Richard Duffy with the ball looking very much as if it had crossed the line. Certainly from TWTD's vantage point in the North Stand it looked to have been well over the line.

However, neither referee nor linesman signalled a goal and Town continued to push for a third, Proudlock going over and then late sub Bowditch cleverly flicking the former Sheffield Wednesday man's cross but also too high.

A better overall performance from Town, particularly in the period between the first goal and half-time. The visitors fought back strongly but the Blues really ought to have had the game settled before the break and once again it was errors at the back which cost them dear.

Either side could have won it in the second half but it will be interesting to see whether Nicky Forster's second half effort crossed the line, Town having been on the rough end of one or two rough decisions from the linesman on the Cobbold Stand side of the ground during the second period.

Two points dropped and once again shakiness at the back, but Town were by no means as bad as they were at Reading with some bright spots, amongst them the pace and movement of Forster - although his finishing could have been sharper - and Proudlock in the first half, while Richards had probably his best game of the season, particularly when at the centre of midfield.

Town: Price, Sito, McEveley, Naylor, De Vos, Horlock, (Parkin 46), Garvan (Juan 24), Currie, Richards, Proudlock, Forster. Unused: Wilnis, Supple. Att: 22,656.

Photo: Action Images

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