Cinderford 29 Coventry 31 by John Wilkinson.

It really was too close for comfort, but hats off to Coventry for negotiating a banana skin of a game and emerging with maximum points and a first win at the Beavis Memorial Ground.

With three new faces in their 20-man squad and coming on the back of hard games against the top three sides in National League One, it was always going to be a tough ask for Cov even without taking into account their poor record in the Forest of Dean.

Last season Cov saw a 17-point lead evaporate under a second-half onslaught from Cinderford, and for a while it looked as if history would repeat itself as, 28-14 up at the break, the visitors saw their advantage steadily whittled away.

But where Cliffie Hodgson had been so accurate, converting all four Cov tries and adding a decisive second-half penalty in another match-winning display, home kicker Mark Davies came up short, and Cov held on by the skin of their teeth in front of Cinderford’s biggest crowd of the season, boosted by a large travelling contingent.

It was a real test of character for Cov’s players, who deserve full credit for coming through against a side only previously beaten at home by the top two teams in the division and battling to stay out of the relegation places.

Centre Rob Knox impressed on his debut, a try of his own added to a try-saving tackle on Mike Wilcox, while Brett Daynes was excellent in an emergency second row role and Leicester loanees Ed Milne, who played the full 80 minutes, and Matt Hubbart both showed their worth in a gutsy overall team display.

Playing into a stiff wind, Cov had all the early possession but gifted Cinderford an interception try after five minutes, Nev Codlin running in from 55 metres and Davies converting.

Cov were back on level terms in just four minutes, Louis Silver ghosting through from 30 metres behind a line-out for a superb individual try which Hodgson converted, but they shot themselves in the foot again when spilled possession resulted in a Rob Winchle try and Davies conversion.

This time it took Cov seven minutes to reply, patiently going through the phases and tying in the Cinderford cover before moving the ball wide to the left for Knox to go over in the corner.

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