COVENTRY 29 CINDERFORD 12
CINDERFORD were swept aside in an ugly and soggy National One encounter to pour into the Christmas break with three consecutive defeats.
Former Forester Danny Wright sparked Cinderford's comeback in September when he was sin-binned for fighting and there was plenty more needle with two Coventry players carded for the same.
The drenched pitch nearly caused the fixture to not go ahead but it did and it was the home side who used the soaking conditions better by scoring four tries to two.
Cinderford stand-off Mike Wilcox had the first sight of goal after three minutes with a 40-metre penalty but the heavy ground saw his effort fall short.
Coventry won turnover ball on halfway six minutes later and released wing Greg Evans up the touchline but Foresters blindside Luke Allen could not resist tripping him and received a yellow card.
Five minutes later Coventry full-back Clifford Hodgson sent a kick to the corner, and from the lineout a brilliant offload from fly-half Will Maisey sent centre Heath Stevens over to score.
Hodgson converted and Allen returned to a Coventry attacking five-metre scrum and following a couple of rucks, home number eight Matthew Tibbatts drove through the middle to score on 20 minutes.
Hodgson split the posts for 14-0 before a fight kicked off on 34 minutes with Coventry loosehead Nico Steenkamp receiving ten minutes on the sidelines.
Wilcox opted for the corner and following a catch and drive lineout hooker Tom Bozzard dotted down for his eighth try of the season with Wilcox off target for 14-5.
Another scuffle broke out on the stroke of half-time with Coventry blindside Brett Daynes saying something to the touch judge and joining his team-mate in the bin.
Coventry ate up the clock with pick and go's and Clifford added another three points on 44 minutes after Cinderford strayed offside before the third try arrived two minutes later.
A simple Coventry Garyowen out of their 22 was not fielded by Cinderford's players and it bounced up for wing Tom Harris to roar through and go all the way to score.
Hodgson's kick opened up a 19-point lead which became 24 on 63 minutes when openside Jamie Harrup finished off a swift touchline counter attack which Hodgson failed to improve.
With minutes remaining, the visitors' forwards were rewarded for their toil when they drove over but the referee went under the posts for a Wilcox-converted penalty try to end the day.
COVENTRY: C Hodgson; T Harris, C Macburnie, H Stevens, G Evans (Otutaha, 71); W Maisey, L Barker; N Steenkamp (Dugard, 64), M Price (Mcgregor, 31, 41, 64), B Ross; T Poole, S Morgan (capt); B Daynes (Wright, 66), J Harrup (Dugard, 34, 44), M Tibbatts. Replacements: D Mcgregor, R Dugard, D Wright, J Otutaha, R KEvan.
CINDERFORD: K Done; N Codlin, J Adams, D Scourfield (Hawley, 56), L Stapleton; M Wilcox, D Pointon; J Brooks, T Bozzard (Bundy, 53), N Selway (Heard, 53); B West, D Critchley (King, 53); L Allen, W Foden, J Garner. Replacements: S Hawley, C Bundy, G Evans, E King, T Heard.
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