If this was a cup tie we’d be worried!

Coventry City’s pre-season trips to face Nuneaton in either their former or present guise have usually been about the Sky Blues getting a workout against a side from much further down the football ladder while their hosts look to generate some decent revenue from a match against their neighbours.

Saturday’s meeting of the two sides however sees them with just two divisions between them going into the 2012/13 season after their respective relegation and promotion last year and, if this was an FA Cup tie then City fans would be seriously worried about the prospect while the television cameras would surely be in attendance.

After a week working on shape and tactics at Ryton, with new loan signings Reece Brown and Callum Ball joining in training and two trialists also in attendance, the battle for first-team places begins in earnest on Saturday after the fitness work undertaken on the tour of Scotland.