McVeigh salvages a point for Norwich

Coventry City 1 Norwich City 1

Paul McVeigh rescued a point for second-placed Norwich City with a last-minute equaliser against Coventry at Highfield Road.

Ritchie Partridge, the midfielder on loan from Liverpool, appeared to have won the match for the hosts against a side unbeaten away in the First Division. But McVeigh, on as a second-half substitute, drilled home a dramatic leveller from 25 yards – his ninth of the season – as Norwich cut Portsmouth's lead at the top of the table to three points.

Norwich's goalkeeper Rob Green pulled off fine saves to first deny Gary McSheffrey and then, twice, the half-time substitute John Eustace.

Norwich had the better of the possession in the first half but failed to create many clear-cut chances.

Iwan Roberts nearly put Norwich ahead but his header, from Nicky Southall's inswinging corner, was cleared by Youssef Safri.

The hosts also had a chance to open the scoring, but Partridge fired Lee Mills' cross wide from the edge of the box in the 16th minute.

Coventry took the lead in the 22nd minute when Partridge cut inside from wide on the left and unleashed a fine shot from 30 yards.

Norwich came close to equalising in the 53rd minute when David Nielsen went on a fine individual run and struck a shot which flew just wide.

Two minutes later the Norwich manager Nigel Worthington introduced McVeigh, who started on the bench after taking a knock to his ankle against Millwall on Saturday.

Eustace twice fired shots at Green, who pulled off a fabulous finger-tip save to deny the substitute David Pipe. But Norwich snatched a point thanks to McVeigh's late strike to retain the country's only unbeaten away record.

Coventry City: Debec; Caldwell, Konjic, Davenport, Quinn, Chippo, Safri, McAllister (Eustace, h-t), Partridge, Mills (Bothroyd, 70), McSheffrey (Pipe, 77). Substitutes not used: Hyldgaard (gk), Shaw.

Norwich City: Green, Nedergaard (Emblen, 82), Kenton, Mackay, Drury, Southall (Henderson, 73), Mulryne, Holt, Heckingbottom (McVeigh, 56), Nielsen, Roberts. Substitutes not used: Crichton (gk), Fleming.

Referee: M Pike (Cumbria).