A superb Jed Steer penalty save earned Yeovil Town a valuable point at home to Coventry City this afternoon.

Steer’s full length dive on fifty minutes to deny Gary Madine’s spot kick effort preserved the point that took Yeovil off the bottom of the table and although at times, the Glovers lacked a little invention, they deserved a share of the spoils in a game that lacked chances and quality throughout.

After picking up four points from their last two games, Yeovil opted to keep things as they were with an unchanged starting eleven from the side that started the 1-1 draw at Preston in midweek. It meant the strike duo of Gozie Ugwu and Jamar Loza were paired again up front, leaving striker-turned-defender Kieffer Moore to continue his new career at the back.

The first half was almost a non-event with just four efforts on goal in the whole 45 minutes and not one of them hitting the target. Three of them were "attempts" on the Yeovil goal, two of them via Simeon Jackson. The first was a shot fired wide of the near post, the second a scuffed sidefooted effort from Frank Nouble’s cross that the striker would have been disappointed with. The first chance had come on twenty minutes when Jackson had been brought down 35 yards from goal by a combination of Moore and Stephen Arthurworrey, the latter picking up a booking. Jordan Willis’s free kick went way over the bar.

Yeovil’s only chance on goal came late in the half when Alex Smith pulled his shot wide under pressure but the Glovers were much better in the second half, albeit after surviving a mighty scare five minutes in. Nouble bounded into the box and was bundled over by Seth Twumasi, ref Andy Haines pointing to the spot. But Steer proved himself the equal to Madine by turning away the forward’s strike for a corner.

The penalty miss seemed to lift the game, the crowd and the players and the rest of the game, though without goals, was far better than the first period. Madine hit a shot into the side netting for City but Yeovil had more chances with Moore heading over a corner, Ugwu firing wide after combining with Liam Shephard and Loza shooting over after good work from Ajay Leitch-Smith.

Steer watched a long range effort from John Fleck sail over his crossbar while defensive colleague Nathan Smith produced a superb tackle to thwart sub Marcus Tudgay with Madine curling the rebound wide of the post; the striker then headed a Jim O’Brien cross over.

On 85 minutes, Yeovil looked to have had a strong penalty shout when Leitch-Smith was fouled in the box but ref Haines waved away the appeals. The hosts had one last chance to score in stoppage time but Moore’s header went wide of the post from a Joe Edwards cross.