Callum Doyle's reception from Sunderland fans plus Coventry’s tactical change: Moments you may have missed

Having already made one alteration by bringing on Kasey Palmer for Jamie Allen in the 62nd minute, Robins then elected to make a triple change, allowed by this season’s five substitutes rule, introducing Fabio Tavares, Tyler Walker and Fankaty Dabo.

As a result, the visitors switched from their accustomed 3-4-1-2 formation to a more offensive 4-2-3-1, a move which paid off as forward Viktor Gyokeres struck a powerful leveller six minutes from time.

Here are some of the moments you may have missed in the 1-1 draw.

Callum Doyle’s reception

There was a familiar face in the Coventry squad as former Sunderland defender Callum Doyle was named on the visitors’ bench.

The 18-year-old made 44 appearances for Sunderland in all competitions last season and signed for the Sky Blues on loan from Manchester City in July.

While he didn’t make it onto the pitch, Doyle received a big applause from Black Cats supporters when he came out for the pre-match warm-up.

When discussing Jonathan Panzo’s debut and Coventry’s younger players after the match, Robins said: “We have Callum Doyle sitting on the bench who is a really good player, we have some really good talent here.”

Lynden Gooch appreciation

While playing in several different positions last season, Lynden Gooch was someone who divided opinions among Sunderland supporters.

The 26-year-old signed a new deal at the Stadium of Light over the summer after a strong finish to the last campaign, and he picked up where he left off against Coventry.

Operating in a right wing-back role, Gooch produced the cross which led to Jack Clarke’s opener, while there were shouts of ‘Goooooooooch’ from the home fans in the post-goal celebrations.

Gooch produced another inviting cross into the Coventry box 12 minutes later, before his name was shouted out again. He made a strong start to the new campaign here.

Club legends watch from the stands

Among the 40,851 at the Stadium of Light were a couple of club legends associated with both clubs.

Former Sunderland goalkeeper Jimmy Montgomery was sat alongside Coventry hero Dave Bennett, who scored the opening goal for the Sky Blues in their 3-2 win over Tottenham in the 1987 FA Cup final.

Montgomery, who made over 500 appearances for Sunderland, also lifted the FA Cup after making a stunning double save in the Black Cats’ 1-0 win over Leeds in the 1973 final.

He will have been impressed with Anthony Patterson’s performance here, as the young stopper made a fine intervention to tip Panzo’s long-range effort onto the bar in the first half.

Sunderland players miss out

While Alex Neil still wants to add four or five more players to his Sunderland squad before the end of the transfer window, there were a few senior players who missed out against Coventry.

Carl Winchester, Leon Dajaku, Jay Matete and Jack Diamond weren’t included in the matchday 18, with Neil saying the decisions were tactical rather than injury related.

"I have a difficult squad to choose week in, week out so unfortunately those lads missed out today,” said the Black Cats boss.