Ipswich Town Res 0Coventry City Res 1EVEN the presence of first-team squad members, Dean Bowditch, Matt Richards, Scott Mitchell and Lewis Price could not prevent Ipswich slipping to their second 1-0 defeat in a row against the Sky Blues.

By Derek Davis

Ipswich Town Res 0

Coventry City Res 1

EVEN the presence of first-team squad members, Dean Bowditch, Matt Richards, Scott Mitchell and Lewis Price could not prevent Ipswich slipping to their second 1-0 defeat in a row against the Sky Blues.

Monaco midfielder Jimmy Juan was still struggling with a foot injury picked up at Coventry last week and was unavailable.

Former Blues' striker Craig Reid gave City their second win inside a week over Ipswich, with a well-taken goal.

City took the lead on the half-hour. with Liam Nicell playing the ball into the area, where Reid turned sharply before dispatching a low diagonal shot past Price from 10 yards.

The injured Pablo Counago was substituted at half-time, with Billy Clarke going wide left.

He pulled the ball back for fellow Irishman Owen Garvan, who almost equalised early in the second half but his shot at full-stretch was taken by the diving keeper Scott Shearer.

Garvan then turned supplier after a good run but Bowditch's 14-yard shot sailed over the bar.

The Blues striker hit a difficult chance over the bar, after meeting a terrific Richards low cross first time on the run.

And Bowditch rattled a post with a terrific curling shot in time added on after cutting inside a defender, following a neat ball from Liam Manning.

Price made a good save to deny former Colchester United loanee Graham Barrett, as City did enough to hold on for their victory over bottom-of-the-table Town.

The teams

Ipswich Town Res: Price, Mitchell, Barron (Krause, 73) Manning, Collins, Patten, McDonald, Garvan, Counago, Bowditch and Richards. Subs not used: Flack, Clarke, Sobers, Krause and Supple.

Coventry City Res: Shearer, Hall, Nicell, Pead, Cooney (Barry, 67) Jorgensen (Thornton, 74) Osbourne, Barrett, Reid and Wood. Subs not used: Thornton, Wall, Davis and Tuffey.

Referee: G Evetts.