RUGBY UNION: ROWLAND Winter admits his Coventry side must be better in all areas of the pitch after falling to a 33-24 defeat away at Fylde in National League One on Saturday.
Two yellow cards proved costly for the visitors but having dominated the opening period for long periods, Coventry should have been in a better position than 12-12 at the midway point.
Winter’s side had hammered away inside the home 22, but a lack of cutting edge and clinical finishing let them down when it mattered and Fylde were able to capitalise by scoring three converted tries in six very damaging minutes which ultimately turned the match on its head.
“We addressed some issues at half-time, and came out and showed that we’re good enough to get back-to-back scores and create a bit of a cushion,” said Winter.
“But, quite simply, we’re not good enough to take things for granted and expect Fylde to lie down. We didn’t have enough quality in our team to switch off like we did.
“We worked hard for that ten minutes after half-time to put ourselves in a good position.
“Our execution was appalling at times – there were two or three occasions when we could easily have been in and had a bigger lead, we just needed to finish bits off but we didn’t, and then we imploded.
“I think we’re past the point of lessons we can learn from. That just wasn’t good enough, we didn’t have enough quality in our team to execute what we wanted to do.”
Fylde made the better start with the Lancashire side putting numerous phases together before Jack Turley ploughed over on the far left, but Greg Smith missed the conversion.
On 15 minutes Coventry drew level after an interception by Tom Wheatcroft saw him stride through the remaining cover to cross wide out but Maisey’s conversion drifted just wide.
At 5-5 there then came a very long period of play which saw the Butts Park men camped in the home half and at varying points, Brett Daynes, Scott Tolmie and Darrel Dyer were all held up close.
Coventry had nothing to show for their efforts, until, finally on 34 minutes, they went in front with pressure finally paying off and lock Josh Peters crashed over and Maisey landed a beautifully judged conversion from way out on the left.
The lead should have been more by this point, but straight from the kick off a fracas developed amongst the forwards from which Peters was singled for the first of the two damaging yellow cards and Fylde capitalised with Matt Rogerson crossing for Smith to convert for 12-12 at half-time.
Two tries in the opening nine minutes of the second half should have been cushion for more with Maisey finding a way through for a try he promptly converted and Stevens then strode through to seal a bones point.
With a 12 point lead surely there was more to come from Coventry but Tony Fenner was yellow carded for a high tackle which changed the complexion of the match.
Fylde centre Connor Wilkinson strode in for two tries in the 67th and 68th minutes, Smith converting both for a 26-24 home lead. Fylde’s fifth try came in the 73rd minute, full-back Chris Briers striding through flimsy cover wide out, Smith once again hammering home the conversion for 33-24.
Coventry needed to dig in and when restored to the full 15, back they came attacking, but by this time Fylde were in no mood to concede as they held out for the win.
It does not get any easier however, with a visit to third-placed Plymouth Albion looming up next.
