Coventry City 1 Bradford City 1

MARK Yeates may have scored the pick of the bunch from City’s awesome foursome at Chelsea but it’s generally been a frustrating 2015 for him so far.

A key figure in the first half of the season, the creative midfielder has been reduced to a bit-part role since a Boxing Day injury at Fleetwood.

But things might be looking up for him again after a game-changing performance from the bench last night.

Yeates earned a point with a thundering free-kick and looked much more like the attacking threat of a couple of months ago.

City too were more like their old selves after a poor first-half performance had given the struggling Sky Blues hope of a rare home win in front of one of the Ricoh’s lowest crowds.

Maybe it was an FA Cup hangover but the Bantams got it out of their system – and possibly should have turned one point into three.

More than 27,000 saw Coventry’s “homecoming” win over Gillingham in September but there was less than a third of that in a stadium fit for Premier League football.

Not surprising, really, considering that they have won only once in ten home games.

Coventry had introduced a “two for one” ticket offer for the original date of the game on Valentine’s Day. But there was little romance for a rearranged Tuesday night and there was no sizeable difference in the attendance.

Safe to say, Take That’s ground record of playing to 150,000 people over three days wasn’t going to be under threat.

It was a stark contrast for City after a jam-packed Valley Parade at the weekend but Phil Parkinson kept with the spirit of that performance by naming nine of the same starters.

Any thoughts of another reshuffle of the ranks were no doubt kept for Notts County on Saturday.

The only changes saw Francois Zoko, the match-winner against Crawley the previous Tuesday, replacing Jon Stead and Andy Halliday returning in midfield for Billy Knott.

They were greeted with another pitch with its problems – the regular presence of stadium owners Wasps, who played there against Saracens on Sunday, ensured a rutted surface which came away in patches.

The indifferent surface did not stop both sides creating – and spurning – decent scoring chances in the opening minutes.

The first fell to City in the third minute as James Meredith’s low cross was missed by Billy Clarke but James Hanson was right behind him to sky over the bar from eight yards out.

Then it was Coventry’s turn to waste an opening as Marcus Tudgay picked out Frank Nouble close in on goal but he screwed his shot past the near post.

There was another close scrape for City after 17 minutes when Aaron Martin beat Ben Williams to an in-swinging cross from Coventry skipper Jim O’Brien. The sparsely-populated ground held its collective breath as the header looped on top of the net and not into it.

It was a scrappy contest with mistakes at both ends – not helped by a bounce like a basketball court in certain places. But Clarke produced a flicker of skill to open up Coventry for Filipe Morais to try a first-time shot that Martin blocked in front of his goal.

Coventry were starting to clock up the attempts without managing one on target. Sanmi Odelusi summed up the lack of overall quality with one wild slice before planting another header over from Phillips’s deflected cross.

They wasted another gilt-edged opportunity before finally turning the growing pressure into a breakthrough goal just before the break.

City could have paid the price when Nouble’s cross was nodded back into the mix by Phillips and Marcus Tudgay wastefully headed wide.

But their relief was short-lived. From Coventry’s next attack, Phillips found room wide on the right to drill in a low cross which Nouble slid in at the far post.

City could maybe point to a foul on Clarke in the build-up but the failure to close Coventry down from that point cost them dear.

The performance had got progressively worse as the first half wore on – and some of the travelling fans vented their frustration by booing when the whistle sounded.

Parkinson made two changes at the break, Alan Sheehan replacing Andrew Davies and Yeates coming on for Zoko. That meant Clarke pushed up to play alongside Hanson.

Yeates soon had City’s first shot on target with a tame drive from a half-cleared corner. But at least it did force keeper Lee Burge into action.

There was far more life to the visitors, who had no doubt received some stern words during the break, although Morais shanked his shot on the run so badly that it went out for a throw-in.

Coventry had used all their subs by the hour point, with the new arrivals including German striker Nick Proschwitz – who had once cost Hull a cool £2.6 million.

Yeates looked the man most likely to unlock the home side and warmed Burge’s hands with a well-struck drive from 20 yards. Then Clarke worked a long pass from Rory McArdle towards Morais, whose left-foot effort was a lot closer than his previous attempt.

Referee Gary Sutton frustrated City by halting play for a foul on the hard-working Halliday inside the Coventry D just as Yeates picked up possession in a dangerous spot.

But the Irishman made the most of the free-kick by bending it around the wall and into the corner of Burge’s net. Yeates raced towards the City fans to celebrate and kicked an advertising board, smashing it in the process and getting a yellow card for his troubles.

City had the bit between their teeth – but were thanking their lucky stars as Coventry wasted a glorious chance to restore the lead.

A low cross from Chris Stokes was miskicked by Sheehan straight to Proschwitz – who somehow fired wide with the goal gaping.

But it was City who finished on the front foot and Hanson was denied a late winner when his downward header from Clarke’s cross was well held by Burge.