COVENTRY Rugby’s promotion hopes suffered another setback following a 41-26 defeat at Nottingham in their final game of the year.
Alex Rae’s side suffered a third straight league defeat at the Lady Bay Ground despite tries from Toby Trinder, Jordon Poole, Jimmy Martin and Will Biggs.
Following a 35-25 defeat against league leaders Ealing Trailfinders in their last game before Christmas at Butts Park Arena, Coventry sit second in the Championship table, 12 points behind Ealing.
Nottingham eventually broke the deadlock on 17 minutes when Seb Ferreira touched down Matthew Arden’s grubber kick as the latter kicked the conversion.
And the home side crossed again on 26 minutes as Harry Clayton applied the finishing touch to Ryan Olowofela’s 70-metre break which Arden again converted.
However, Cov responded three minutes before half time when Trinder marked his 100th appearance for the club with a try from a driving maul as Liam Richman kicked the exras.
And the visitors struck again on 52 minutes as Poole powered over from close range to cut the deficit to just two points.
However, Nottingham scored their third try moments later as Olowofela rose highest to claim the restart and raced in with Arden kicking the conversion.
The home side scored their bonus point try on the hour mark as a loose clearance allowed Kegan Christian-Goss to score in the left corner as Arden again converted.
Cov kept themselves in the contest three minutes later as Martin intercepted a pass and ran in from 70-metres out which Richman converted.
Arden kicked a penalty to stretch Nottingham’s lead before Cov shunted Biggs over the line to set up a grandstand finish.
However, Nottingham sealed the points when Malelili Satala scored in the corner before David Williams touched down at the death.
Coventry are next in action against Doncaster Knights on Saturday, January 18 with kick-off at 3pm at Butts Park Arena.
