Bristol Rovers remain three points above the League One trap door after bringing home a point from a hard-fought goalless draw against Coventry last Sunday, writes Stephen Knowlson.

I had fancied Rovers to come back from the Ricoh with something and it was thanks to an excellent display by Jack Bonham in goal that we did.

Coughlan made a couple of changes for the trip up to Coventry with Sinclair coming into midfield and Reilly replacing Nichols up front.

The Sky Blues still have a sniff of getting into the play off places so they started the game on the front foot, probing our defence with their large, mobile strike force. Despite the majority of possession in the first half the home team only really tested Bonham once when he was forced into a smart save from Liam Kelly. The Gas defence stayed resolute, despite creating very little ourselves.

The second 45 continued in a similar vein with Coventry attacking from the off with Luke Thomas forcing Bonham to tip a header around the post a minute into the half. Rovers started to grow into the contest a little more, especially with the introduction of the fresh legs of Nichols and Jakubiak up front., with the latter teeing up Sercombe who saw his shot blocked.

A poor Ricoh Arena pitch was not conducive to high quality football but it was still the home side asking most of the questions. Bonham was called into action again on 78 minutes, brilliantly saving Davies’s goalbound header and Lockyer had to be alert with a sliding tackle to deny former Rovers target Bakayoko when the Coventry man was through on goal.

In the final few minutes Rovers pushed for an unlikely win with both Sercombe and Nichols denied by Burge in the Coventry goal but a scrappy affair drew to a close with honours even.

Despite our lack of threat up front our defence and keeper played well and an away point at Coventry is a useful return in our fight to stay in League One. A special mention goes to the 2,187 Gasheads who travelled up to Warwickshire and sang throughout the ninety minutes to help carry the team over the line.

Next up is the visit of rock bottom Bradford City to the Mem this Saturday – three points at 5pm would be very welcome indeed.