Coventry City battled manfully to come away from Southampton with a point having played for the majority of the second half with 10 men in the absence of the club’s leading top scorer Brandon-Thomas-Asante.
The Sky Blues opened the scoring on the stroke of half time thanks to Ephron Mason-Clark’s header but were reduced to 10-men just two minutes into the second half.
Nathan Wood equalised and despite putting City under a lot of pressure, the visitors held on to take a precious point away from St Mary’s.
Frank Lampard was forced into three changes as Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Bobby Thomas and Liam Kitching all missed out through illness.
Joel Latibeaudiere, Luke Woolfenden and Josh Eccles came in to replace them.
City started brightly and came close after an intricate move saw Milan Van Ewijk find space in the box and his low ball across was cut out by Welington who had Ephron Mason-Clark behind him ready to pounce.
Carl Rushworth was called into action in the 18th minute when Jack Rudoni’s pass was intercepted and Leo Scienza broke forward and arrowed in a shot, but the Sky Blues stopper stretched out a leg and made an excellent save.
The Sky Blues had a shout for a penalty just after the half hour mark when Taylor Harwood-Bellis fell into Haji Wright but the referee immediately waved it away.
City started to build a head of steam and came close to taking the lead on 38 minutes when Rudoni set up Eccles who tried to find the bottom corner from the edge of the box but Gavin Bazunu did well to push it behind.
The pressure paid off in the 44th minute when Victor Torp’s cross was met by Mason-Clark who rose high and planted his header into the far corner.
There was a big moment just two minutes into the second half as Jay Dasilva was shown a straight red card for a late challenge.
Lampard shuffled the pack and introduced Jake Bidwell in place of Eccles immediately after.
Southampton levelled the contest in the 56th minute when Nathan Wood headed home.
Finn Azaz came close two minutes later with a low drive but Rushworth got down well to keep it out.
As Saints continued to apply pressure, Lampard turned to his bench for fresh legs in the 81st minute as Ellis Simms, Jamie Allen and Kaine Kesler-Hayden all entered the fray in place of Van Ewijk, Torp and Wright.
Southampton continued to dominate the ball and put crosses into the box but the Sky Blues put their bodies on the line.
St Mary’s was lifted by the announcement of nine additional minutes but Coventry held their nerve to claim a point.
