ED Benfield marked his return to action with a brace at Coventry & North Warwickshire beat South Nottingham 4-2 on the road in the Midland Hockey League Division One.
A welcome win from a journey to Nottingham saw Benfield get on the scoresheet twice and there were also goals from Mitch Wise and skipper Sam Clarke.
Clarke opened the scoring when he tapped home at the far post after some good build up play by Dom Bell and Wise.
The Coventry goalscorer then turned provider by producing a mazy run into the area before setting up Benfield for his first of the match.
It was all one way traffic in the first half with Adam Merrell barely getting a touch in the Coventry goa but a series of short corners were wasted, with Wise clearing the bar with a reverse stick shot.
It proved to be more of the same after the break and it took just two minutes for Bell to provide a reverse stick for Wise to strike home a third.
At 3-0 it looked as though Coventry were going to emulate their 7-1 win over South Nottingham earlier in the season but the league’s strugglers got back into the match by pulling one goal back.
However immediatley afterwards Benfield got his second to restore the three goal cushion.
Coventry seemed to take their foot off the gas as Nottingham got into the ascendancy from which they scored again.
But they could not find another breakthrough as Merrell reverted to his role as a last ditch defender.
With two more games to go Coventry remain in fourth place ahead of this weekend’s home clash against Old Silhillians at Coventry University.
