Coventry City 0-0 Stoke City - Sky Blues end losing run in derby draw
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Last season's two league games between Coventry and Stoke were both won by the away side
Coventry City ended their run of four straight defeats as they were held to a goalless derby draw by fellow Midlands side Stoke City.
For Alex Neil's Potters, now unbeaten in five matches, it was a second successive goalless draw after last weekend's stalemate at home to Cardiff City.
Although having the better of a very poor game of few chances, Mark Robins' Sky Blues had to be content with a first clean sheet since 4 October.
Coventry remain 20th, 10 points off the play-off places, now five points clear of trouble, five points behind the 14th-placed Potters.
Matt Godden forced the best save of the game from Jack Bonham and shot just over with another first-half opportunity but the closest Coventry came to scoring was through two Ellis Simms headers, either side of the break.
The first clipped the side of the right post, while the second looped just over and Jamie Allen miscued badly when presented with a great chance 10 yards out.
Andre Vidigal wasted Stoke's one clear chance late on when he acrobatically powered a scissors kick just over.
Who's next?
Coventry resume after the break with away trips to Millwall and Ipswich, either side of a midweek home game against Plymouth Argyle.
Stoke's next test is a home game against Blackburn Rovers, before away trips to QPR and Plymouth.
Coventry City boss Mark Robins told BBC CWR:
"I'm sure we're going to beat somebody really heavily soon. We're certainly creating enough. We've missed good chances so I'm a bit frustrated about that.
"But you've got to start somewhere. On the flip side, we've kept the ball out of our net. It was a welcome clean sheet.
"But we kept them quiet for most of the game and, although there's been nothing much wrong with our performances, we've at least stopped the sequence we were on."
Potters boss Alex Neil told BBC Radio Stoke:
"Both teams lacked that little bit of cutting edge in the final third of the pitch. But, defensively, it was a really competitive game.
"You could see how desperate they were for a result, but we more than matched them in terms of fighting spirit.
"They always say if you don't win, don't lose. I don't think we did enough to justify the three points but that's four clean sheets on the bounce - and that's not easy in this league."