Coventry and Hull drew a blank on the opening weekend of the Sky Bet Championship season as their clash at the Coventry Building Society Arena ended in a 0-0 stalemate.
The closest either side came to breaking the deadlock was when Milan van Ewijk’s long-range effort struck the woodwork for the hosts in the second half.
The result represents a decent return for the Tigers, who went through a chaotic summer that briefly saw them put under a transfer embargo.
Coventry began brightly and almost led in the third minute when Tatsuhiro Sakamoto bent a low effort narrowly wide of the far post from just outside the area.
Jack Rudoni then looked to have a clear sight of goal from Victor Torp’s pass, but Hull captain Charlie Hughes came across to make an excellent block in diverting the ball behind.
The Sky Blues continued to threaten as a pinpoint pass from Jay Dasilva picked out Torp in the area and the Dane chested the ball down for Rudoni whose shot was deflected wide.
Although they were not posing much of an attacking threat themselves, Hull managed to ride out what had been a tricky first 20 minutes before holding their hosts at bay more comfortably.
A long throw from Van Ewijk almost prised them open in the 32nd minute as Rudoni got on the end of it, but Hull goalkeeper Ivor Pandur held onto his headed attempt.
Regan Slater had a rare first-half opening for the visitors four minutes before the break when he advanced into the area only to miscue his shot horribly wide.
Hull then had a good chance to go ahead in the first minute of the second half when Abu Kamara ran onto Cody Drameh’s pass down the right and shot straight at Coventry goalkeeper Carl Rushworth despite team-mates arriving in support.
Van Ewijk came close to a brilliant opener for the Sky Blues in the 53rd minute when his stunning effort from outside the box crashed against the angle of post and bar.
Hull were continuing to deny their hosts clear-cut openings, however, with Coventry boss Frank Lampard replacing the ineffective Ephron Mason-Clark with Haji Wright in an effort to find a breakthrough.
The home fans thought they were finally about to have one after 77 minutes, but Liam Kitching’s header from Torp’s corner was straight at Pandur.
The managers
Coventry’s Frank Lampard:
“They defended their box well – I think you could tell they were very happy with the draw.
“So, not easy to break down and maybe with the (lack of) sharpness at the top end of the pitch in the first game of the season it can be a difficult game for different reasons.
“But I was happy with lots of our play, happy with a clean sheet – it’s always important if you’re not going to be absolutely at your best you make sure you don’t concede.
“Disappointed not to win the game, but there are positives to take, moving forward.”
Hull’s Sergej Jakirovic:
“It was a very tough game for us because of the pressure (from Coventry). It was the first round (of the season), but we were defensively very good.
On not being able to sign new players…
“At least we can bring in three players on loan – in my previous club (Kayserispor) I had an embargo as well.
“Nobody could come and join us, we had 13, 14 players plus academy players, so I was used to it already, this situation – they’re joking with me (that) I brought the embargo to Hull.”
