There were four changes in the Swansea starting line-up but no place for Leon Britton who was also absent from the bench. New signing Shefki Kuqi was among the substitutes along with Alan Tate, David Cotterill and Joe Allen.
Wales international Freddy Eastwood was unfit and not in the Sky Blues squad but there was a place on the bench for Dimi Konstantopoulos who had a spell on loan with the Swans.
Nathan Dyer brought a snap reflex save from visitors keeper Keiren Westwood in the tenth minute after Darren Pratley had threaded a slide-rule pass down the right to the wingman.
The Swans almost went ahead in the 19th minute after Gorka Pintado fired into the danger area. The Coventry defence failed to clear and Pratley let fly with a shot that struck the base of the post with Westwood beaten.
Sammy Clingan struck a 25-yard free-kick just past the post as the Sky Blues made a brief raid on the home goal but normal service was soon resumed as the recalled Tom Butler fired straight at Westwood after cutting inside.
Both sides were guilty of giving the ball away too easily and play became very disjointed as the first half drew to a close.
Allen replaced Jordi Lopez at the start of the second half while Leon Barnett went on for James McPake at the heart of the Sky Blues defence.
The Swans pinned Coventry back and Lee Trundle made an entrance in the 68th minute as Paulo Sousa looked for the spark that could give his side victory.
In a last throw of the dice, Kuqi went on for the ineffective Pintado with 13 minutes remaining and immediately there were shouts for a penalty as Pratley went down in the area. From the resulting corner, Allen had Westwood sprawling to his right to gather a low shot through a crowd of players.
Kuqi and Trundle both had close-range shots blocked but the final whistle blew to end a poor match.