It was a tough loss to take at The Bay on Boxing Day. Nottingham put up a good fight for the first 50 minutes, but Coventry eventually showed their quality and ran away with the game.
Nottingham had a couple of very early attacks, and Morgan Bunting, noticing the referee had called advantage, tried the cross field kick in a dangerous position but it was dealt with comfortably by Coventry. However, it was brought back for the penalty, and utilising the driving maul, Nathan Tweedy pushed over to put the home side ahead in the first five minutes
Bunting missed the conversion, so Coventry were able to take the lead a few minutes later when they themselves tried a driving maul and were awarded a penalty try with David Williams being sent to the sin bin.
Less than 10 minutes later, Coventry extended their lead. The winger James Martin chased the kick through the Nottingham defence and had the pace to get to the ball before it reached the dead ball line.
They then added another couple soon after. A great pass from the middle gave them space on the left and a cheeky offload a few metres out put Will Wand away. Then, they found a way through the Green and White defence again as Tom Dodd reached out to get the ball over the line.
Now 19 points down, Nottingham put together a few promising looking attacks, but a string of penalties meant they were never able to turn them into anything and Coventry were able to clear their lines each time.
In the final 10 minutes before half time, the home side found space on the right. Ryan Olowofela used his pace to great effect, but his offload to Bunting went awry and Coventry were able to pounce on it and sniff out the danger.
Nottingham finally got some points back right before halftime. Another good-looking attack led to Coventry’s Toby Trinder being shown the yellow card. Marcus Ramage immediately took advantage of the extra man, finishing off a driving maul and pushing over for the try from the lineout.
After exchanging kicks a few times to start the second half, Jack Neville found space to run on the right. Soon after, the Archers won a penalty which was kicked to the corner. Once again, they pulled the driving maul out the bag and Harry Clayton was the man who got over the line this time to make the gap just seven points.
However, just 5 minutes later Coventry got those points back. After a good defensive stand from Nottingham forced the knock on, they weren’t able to keep out the second wave and Senikiti Nayalo pushed over for the try.
With the bonus point already in the bag, Coventry decided to go for the posts with a penalty from near-enough the halfway line. Will Talbot-Davis had the leg but not the direction as the ball sails just left of the posts.
The visitors put the game to bed with ten minutes left on the clock when Josh Bainbridge spotted a gap in the Nottingham defensive line and darted though it for the score. Then, to really hammer the nail in the coffin, Will Lane took the offload from ten metres out and was able to walk over the line untouched.
The loss sees Nottingham drop into the bottom half of the league for the first time this season, meanwhile Coventry remain strong in third place.