Nottingham 26 Coventry 27
Coventry really are becoming rather expert in staging second- half recoveries.
For the third week running, all away from home, a half-time deficit was successfully turned round and at the end of the second half, the squad could justifiably feel well pleased with their latest achievement; especially as seven first-team members were unavailable for an assortment of reasons.
The match itself was rather too mistake-ridden to be classed as anything other than ordinary, but what it lacked in that area was more than made up for in excitement. There is no doubting the endeavour and resilience of this Coventry side, now they have overcome an indifferent start to the season.
Mind you, head coach Mike Umaga, in acknowledging his side's latest win, did express the wish his men would not continue to give their followers potential heart failures with their continued second-half revivals.
"There is a real sense of belief, the squad is very committed," said Umaga. "It showed the last two results were no flukes."
The first 40 minutes were certainly not Coventry's best, there being no real pattern to their play and into the bargain, first debutant No 8 Ross Beattie and then flanker Henno Venter both incurred the referee's displeasure and received yellow cards.
It did not help, therefore, that the side were at least one man short for some 20 minutes and for part of that time, two. However, the storm was weathered with relatively minimum effect and once into the second half, possession, again hard-earned, was now retained for far longer periods.
All this seemed to have its effect on Nottingham, who were far more dominant earlier but, as the match progressed, frustration and mistakes clearly crept into their play.
The home side could not have made a more compelling start. Within 28 seconds, Coventry failed to secure the kick-off and home captain and lock forward Craig Hammond stormed in for the opening try from 35 metres, Neil Stenhouse converting.
Two James Moore penalties for Coventry cut the deficit to 7-6, only for Stenhouse to land a similar number for Nottingham and the margin again became seven points.
Despite the two yellow cards to the Cov forwards, the home side were not able to gain any major advantage; indeed, both players had returned by the time Stenhouse landed a third penalty, only for Moore to cancel it out six minutes later.
At 16-9 down at halftime and facing a battle for the third week running, Coventry came out and began to look much more positive than previously.
Good work by the forwards on 53 minutes saw flanker Gareth Gravell driven over for Cov's first try, the nerveless Moore converting to level matters.
A Kevin Wyles try, converted by Stenhouse two minutes later after the visitors' midfield defence was finally broken, took Nottingham ahead once again.
In reality, however, this only set up a finale largely dominated by Coventry, who once again demonstrated they were prepared to stick to their guns and wait for their opportunities.
Moore's fourth penalty again cut the margin to four, before replacement flanker Tom Johnson strode over for his side's second try on 71 minutes to put Coventry in front for the first time.
Still, the tension remained. First, Stenhouse steered Nottingham ahead again with his fourth penalty with five minutes remaining, only for Moore to have the last word as he coolly kicked another Coventry penalty one minute from normal time.
A hard-earned win in every sense, but importantly, four more league points as Cov eased further up the table.
