Sky Blues held by Saints
By Peter ORourke. Last Updated: January 1, 1970 1:00am
Southampton came from a goal down to secure a 1-1 draw with Coventry at their new Ricoh Arena.
Ricardo Fuller's first goal for Southampton cancelled out James Scowcroft's early opener for Coventry to earn Harry Redknapp's men a share of the spoils.
Coventry began brightly and they broke the deadlock after just six minutes with a superbly worked goal from Scowcroft.
Scowcroft began the move by spreading the ball out to Marcus Hall wide on the left and he got into the box to meet Hall's cross with a powerful shot past Antti Niemi.
Southampton were gifted an equaliser six minutes later when Fuller capitalised on Robert Page's weak back pass and he kept his cool before curling the ball past Stephen Bywater from an acute angle.
Fuller had another chance on 22 minutes when the ball fell nicely to him on the edge of the box, but he fired his shot straight at Bywater.
Coventry almost handed Southampton a second goal when Brett Ormerod stole the ball from Richard Duffy right on the byline and he flashed his shot from a difficult angle right across the face of goal.
Coventry substitute Stern John had the final chance of the half when he ran to the edge of the area and fired a shot straight at Niemi.
The home side came out for the second half in determined fashion and Scowcroft wasted a good opportunity when he headed Willo Flood's deflected cross over the top.
Southampton were inches away from grabbing the lead just before the hour mark when Coventry failed to deal with a long throw-in and Ormerod saw his header come back off the crossbar and Page was on hand to prevent Fuller getting on the rebound.
David Prutton went close to grabbing a winner for Southampton two minutes from time with a powerful run and shot from the edge of the area which flew just wide of the far post.
Matches
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npower Championship
Table
npower Championship
| Pos | Team | P | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barnsley | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | Birmingham City | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | Blackburn Rovers | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | Blackpool | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | Bolton Wanderers | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | Bournemouth | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | Burnley | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | Charlton Athletic | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | Derby County | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | Doncaster Rovers | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | Huddersfield Town | 0 | 0 |
| 13 | Ipswich Town | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | Leeds United | 0 | 0 |
| 15 | Leicester City | 0 | 0 |
| 16 | Middlesbrough | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | Millwall | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | Nottingham Forest | 0 | 0 |
| 19 | Queens Park Rangers | 0 | 0 |
| 20 | Reading | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | Sheffield Wednesday | 0 | 0 |
| 22 | Watford | 0 | 0 |
| 23 | Wigan Athletic | 0 | 0 |
| 24 | Yeovil Town | 0 | 0 |
James Scowcroft
Ricardo Fuller
