Bristol City manager Nigel Pearson was not shying away from the fact he needs to pick up victories but couldn't fault his side after battling to another hard-fought point at Coventry.
The Robins fell behind in the 12th minute through Jake Bidwell when he headed in a rebound following Max O'Leary's terrific save from his initial effort. It was a slow start from the visitors but they showed plenty of character to respond and deservedly drew level before the break.
Antoine Semenyo did superbly to hold up the ball before working it back to Matty James. He then found Cam Pring out on the left before his cross landed back at the feet of the Ghanaian who drilled it into the bottom corner.
It was the 22-year-old's fourth goal of the season and his first since the defeat at Norwich in September but nothing less than he deserved for his tireless performance. City dominated for the rest of the first half but failed to take advantage of the pressure before the hosts came out with greater intensity in the second period.
City dropped deeper and looked to play on the counter and generated the best chance of the second half when Andi Weimann somehow couldn't turn in Semenyo's cross from just a yard out. Following the draw at Millwall, a point leaves City three points above the dropzone and although that's two defeats in the last seven league matches, it's also three wins in 19 games in all competitions.
"It was a game that both sides were capable of winning and threatening to win but there was some really good defending from both teams," Pearson said after the game.
"In our position at the minute we’re short on wins but the last two games have been really solid away performances with some really good attacking play too. It’s one of those things, I’d rather have a point than nothing.
"The thing is we need to win more games, that doesn’t change. We’ve had two very tough away games and we’ve shown a level of commitment, desire and ability in both games to look capable of winning and if we’d won one and drawn one, I would say that was probably fair.
"But it doesn’t matter we’re giving ourselves a chance to win games and some great performances out there today. I don’t think you could put anyone down as being a weak link out there today, there was a lot of really good play both offensively and defensively.”
City were forced to dig deep in the second period with two last-gasp tackles by Cam Pring and Zak Vyner on Coventry's dangerman Viktor Gyokeres to deny goalscoring opportunities. It was two moments that epitomised the endeavour in City's play.
Pearson added: "We know he’s a player however way he shapes up he likes to chop back in onto his right foot and it’s so obvious but it’s so difficult to deal with, but I thought we dealt with it really well to the extent he even took a shot with his left foot.
"They’ve got some good players in their squad, but it was just a game that we needed to create an attacking threat too because they’re a side that have scored so many goals on the counterattack and we’re aware of that. We’re not really a possession dominant side, but I thought we created some good spells of pressure especially through set plays. I think in the second half we had some great counterattacks ourselves.
"It was an interesting game; I think it was a game that would be fair to say both sides were in a positive mood trying to win it. We’ll take what we’ve got for now but we are aware we need to improve our points tally.”
It was another 90 minutes in the tank for Semenyo and a performance where he showed glimpses of being back at the top of his game. For Pearson, ending his goal drought was never in doubt.
"He’s been frustrated but you know what strikers are like, when they get one, they think the next one will be here in two minutes' time but from my own perspective as long as strikers do what they’re there to do in terms of work rate, whether they score or not, that’s how they judge themselves.
"I don’t judge them like that as long as they bring the qualities, they need to bring for us to function the way we want to play then I’m relatively happy because I know they’ll score at some point."
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