Gillingham claimed a point from a tense match against Coventry City on Saturday.

Coventry hit the bar twice in the second half, Jacob Murphy finding the top of the woodwork and Marcus Tudgay the underside with a minute left.

The Gills survived both scares to take a share of the spoils.

Gillingham’s second-best crowd of the season were frustrated at times, as Coventry had the best of the goalscoring chances, but a point extended their unbeaten run to five.

Gills were unchanged from the side that started the game against Bury the week before, which they won 1-0.

There was a welcome return for John Egan, starting on the bench after recovering from injury. George Williams was also among the subs after international duty with Wales.

The Gills bossed the early stages but were unable to take advantage, their only effort on target a tame header from Max Ehmer.

They were forced into making an early change as Dominic Samuel came off injured after slipping in the box, trying to get on the end of a hooked pass from strike-partner Luke Norris.

Ryan Jackson was seeing plenty of the ball down the right, but the end product wasn’t there, and as the half wore on Coventry grew into the game. Their outlet was Jodi Jones down the right and he was getting some joy against left wing-back Brennan Dickenson.

Despite both sides threatening, the final ball was always lacking and the half ended with Ehmer’s effort the only one from either side on target. It was in contrast to the games between the two sides recently at Priestfield, sharing 21 goals in the previous four matches.

A change at the break saw Williams replace Aaron Morris, the newcomer sitting in behind the front two.

Gillingham started well again, but the first meaningful shot was Coventry’s. Tudgay drilled an effort just wide close to the hour mark and former Gills loanee Romain Vincelot also came close, stabbing wide when under pressure from Deji Oshilaja.

The best chances kept falling for City and their Newcastle loanee Gael Bigirimana curled an effort just wide with 20 minutes left. Murphy got close still, whipping in a shot that bounced off the top of the bar.

Tudgay came closest to breaking the deadlock, with a minute of normal time left. Rory Donnelly’s clearance was blocked and it fell to the Coventry man, whose vicious shot bounced clear after hitting the underside of the bar.

Gillingham: Nelson, Jackson (Garmston 71mins), Dickenson, Oshilaja, Ehmer. Al-Abd, Wright, A Morris (Williams 46mins), Crofts, Norris, Samuel (Donnelly 13mins). Subs not used: G Morris, Hessenthaler, Egan, McDonald.

Coventry: Charles-Cook, Vincelot, Fleck, Stephens, Phillips, Ricketts, Bigrimana, Tudgay, Martin, Murphy, Jones (Armstrong 61mins). Subs not used: Lameiras, Lorentzon, Cole, Antoine-Fortune, Hunt, Addai.

Attendance: 7,200 (678 away)