Adams delighted with Sky Blues stalemate

Cardiff 0 Coventry 0

The Sky Blues have yet to win away from home this season but they succeeded in preventing their hosts from scoring for the fourth successive match.

“I have watched Cardiff a couple of times lately and they scared me to death when they beat Crewe 6-1,” said Adams.

“I decided to add an extra man in defence and also another in midfield to combat the talents of Jason Koumas. It worked very well as we were comfortable in the first half and did all right after the break when Cardiff came at us,” he said.

The Bluebirds suffered a blow before the game when Michael Ricketts pulled out, suffering from a virus which has affected him for several weeks, meaning Republic of Ireland international Alan Lee stepped in to partner England U21 Cameron Jerome. It was the visitors who attacked first when James Scowcroft raced down the right but Glenn Loovens came across to block.

Koumas began weaving his magic with pin-point passes to both Lee and Jerome but the Sky Blues defence, with former Bluebird Robert Page in the thick of the action, were more than a match for the Cardiff strikeforce.

The visitors almost broke the deadlock six minutes from the break when a deep cross by Lilian Nalis was headed into the side-netting by the busy Gary McSheffrey.

The second half mirrored the first as passes from both sides went astray.

“It was very frustrating as they put so many players behind the ball we just couldn’t break them down,” said the Cardiff manager.

“I can’t fault my players today because we totally dominated and controlled the game but just couldn’t get the goal we needed.”

CARDIFF: Alexander, Weston, Purse, Loovens, Barker, Koumas, Whitley, Ledley, Cooper (Ferretti 85), Lee (Parry 75), Jerome.

COVENTRY: Fulop, Duffy, Page, Shaw, Heath, Hall, Hughes, Thornton (Jorgensen 56), Nalis, Scowcroft, McSheffrey (Adebola 70).

Referee: C Penton (Sussex).