Coventry City 1 Bristol City 1: Debutant Alvaro Saborio admitted to feeling a touch nervous as kick-off approached at the Ricoh Arena.

And no wonder. Newly-arrived in a strange land, he had scarcely learned the names of his new team-mates when informed of his belated promotion to the starting line-up.

Having been told he would be warming the bench, the Costa Rican then had only a few hours in which to prepare for his introduction to the Championship after Danny Haynes complained of feeling unwell and withdrew.

In the event, he need not have worried. If City's new loan signing was daunted by unfamiliar surroundings, a foreign language and a different style of football, he certainly did not show it during what, in the circumstances, proved to be a remarkable debut.

By the end of his first 90 minutes in a red shirt, Saborio had created a goal for new strike partner Nicky Maynard, threatened to score at least one himself and succeeded in winning over the 2,000 City fans who made the journey to the Midlands.

When he emerged from the dressing room to express satisfaction with his debut, his words smacked of understatement.

"I thought it went quite well for me," said the South American, who went on to tell of the part played by City's travelling supporters.

He explained: "When the manager told me I was playing I did feel very nervous. I had not been here long and had trained only three times.

"It was a shock for me to play and I did not know what to expect from the game. But when I heard the fans singing my name, it felt good and I was able to play."

Goalscorer Maynard certainly appreciated his new strike partner after profiting from the deft lay-off which invited the spectacular 48th-minute equaliser that cancelled out Leon Best's first-half header.

Demonstrating an innate sense of where to be, Saborio positioned himself perfectly to chest down Liam Fontaine's swinging cross and present the predatory Maynard with an opportunity to blast what will surely be a contender for the Championship goal of the season.

"Alvaro set me up perfectly," said Maynard, who now has six goals and is carving out a reputation as one of the hottest properties in the Championship.

"Considering he only arrived a few days earlier and none of us really knew much about him, we couldn't have asked any more of him. I thought he had a magnificent debut.

"The manager likes the strikers to play as a pair and the early signs are good. Alvaro is good in the air, holds the ball up well, distributes it well and gets into good positions. I think everyone was impressed by him.

"But he's only been here five minutes and he'll get better. It's up to us to make him feel at home and help him settle in."

Saborio could easily have capped an immensely encouraging debut performance with a winning goal. Denied by Keiren Westwood's superb first-half save, the Costa Rica international should have scored moments after Maynard had restored parity.

Put clean through by a long clearance, the loan signing seemed genuinely surprised when the referee's assistant kept his flag down. The briefest hesitation caused him to lose his composure and direct his shot into the side-netting.

Based on their second-half display, the visitors will feel they should have returned with all three points. Cole Skuse saw his goal-bound header clawed to safety by the busy Westwood, Saborio arrived a split-second too late to turn in a cross at the far post and Jamie McCombe climbed high to meet Paul Hartleys's free-kick, only to send his header straight into the goalkeeper's arms.

Yet Coventry and their manager, Chris Coleman, will argue their performance in the opening 45 minutes warranted a point. City struggled to retain possession, failed to support their strikers and, as a result, allowed themselves to be pushed back and penned in their own half for long periods.

Not surprisingly, the Sky Blues took full advantage and there was a sense of inevitability about the goal which put them ahead on 18 minutes. There was no doubting the quality of Marcus Hall's delivery from the left flank, but City's defenders will be disappointed that former Yeovil forward Best was allowed to squeeze into space and guide his stooping header beyond Dean Gerken from six yards.

Now in full cry, Coventry thought they had doubled their advantage seven minutes later, Clint Morrison turning the ball into the net after Gerken had made a sprawling save to keep out Isaac Osbourne's powerful downward header.

Much to Bristol City's relief, an offside flag came to their rescue and gave them the encouragement they needed to mount a second-half recovery.