Coventry secure draw at home to landlords and away side Birmingham | Football

The chant before kick-off went “You’re supposed to be at home” and for a second it was difficult to work out who was singing it. In a unique turn of affairs this FA Cup fourth-round tie had cast Birmingham as visitors to their own ground. The stadium that has been their permanent home since 1906 is also Coventry’s temporary residence this season and, as the first name out of the hat, they became the home team.

The chant, therefore, was from the Sky Blues fans mocking their hosts, who were also their guests. Birmingham fans got their own back: “Our ground’s too big for you,” they hollered.

The Coventry fans had the Kop end and a massive banner of Jimmy Hill. Birmingham had the bigger numbers (despite ticketing nominally being split 50/50) and their fans directed the noise from the Gil Merrick end.

It was not all enmity, however. In a contest Coventry officials had hoped to market as a “unity match”, both sets of supporters could at least agree on what they wanted to do to “the Villa”. And perhaps, given the complicated circumstances, it was right that the game should end in a draw, too.

“I’m certainly proud of the players, it was a strange set of circumstances as everyone has alluded to,” Coventry’s manager, Mark Robins, said afterwards. “Both sets of fans were vociferous in their support but there was a lot of respect, particularly from our fans who know that Birmingham have been class since we moved in. We acquitted ourselves really well and can be disappointed we didn’t go through, as the chance at the end was gilt-edged. Now we’ve got to do it all again.”

The opportunity Robins was referring to came in the dying seconds of added time when the substitute Callum O’Hare, himself a Villa loanee, somehow completely missed the ball when faced with an open goal six yards out.

It was an unbelievable miss and by some distance the clearest opening of a match that was as evenly contested on the pitch as it was off.

From exile Coventry are making a decent fist of a League One promotion bid and Robins’s team has always been attractive on the eye, as they were here.

Pep Clotet, somewhat surprisingly, had compared Coventry’s style of play to Liverpool’s earlier in the week. The Birmingham head coach maintained this complimentary attitude after the match too, suggesting his Birmingham side – so erratic in the Championship – had done well to “build the game, making sure we kept a clean sheet”.

“Tactically we were very good all game but we lacked sharpness in the final third and that’s why we couldn’t come out on top,” Clotet said.

“It’s a strange feeling to go into the away cloakroom and know you can’t access the stadium in the way you normally do.

“But now we have a replay and this time we’re going to play at home so Coventry have a fantastic chance to enjoy [the experience].”

Clotet was forced to answer several questions about the future of Jude Bellingham, with the 16-year-old midfielder heavily linked with a move to the Premier League, and Manchester United in particular, this January.

Clotet was unable to offer any update, suggesting as head coach he would not be party to such information if it existed. This will hardly console nervous Birmingham fans who customised a round of Hey Jude into a paean to their player (Coventry fans, meanwhile, changed “Jude” to “Sky Blues”).

This tie will now go to a replay the week after next: same venue, different dressing rooms.