COVENTRY ended a run of four straight defeats in National League One with a hard-fought 33-27 victory over relegation threatened Cinderford at the Butts Park Arena.
The home side were giving a large helping hand after the visitors incurred three yellow cards overall and Coventry were also boosted by the fact that results elsewhere towards the bottom end of the table went their way.
In front of the lowest home gate of the season (851), Coventry went in front on seven minutes when a quick break from full back Caolan Ryan saw the ball moved to Dom Lespierre who stormed over the line and Ryan converted the extra points.
Cinderford’s Sheedy was then yellow carded for a deliberate offside infringement and Ryan scored the resultant penalty to fire Coventry ten points in front.
Soon after Lespierre scored a second, which this time was unconverted before the visitors got their first points on the board thanks to former Coventry winger Sam Baker who cross for an unconverted try.
The tide looked as though it had turned for a 15 minute period with the visitors back to full strength and it was not long before the gap was reduced to three points when centre Nev Codling scored, with Sheady scoring the conversion.
Coventry managed up their levels again though before the break with the returning Matt Jones sending Lespierre clear for his third try of the match to send the hosts into the break with a deserved eight point lead.
Tipi Kivalu was held agonisingly short of the line shortly after the re-start before a moment of madness saw Coventry lose possession and Mike Wilcox took advantage by scoring to make it 20-17.
With visiting hooker Bozzard yellow carded, Ryan added to the punishment with a penalty before on 67 minutes Coventry extended their lead to 13 points after being awarded a penalty try, which was converted by Ryan for a bonus point.
Despite being seemingly down and out, Cinderford produced a spirited fightback with Sam Baker going over for his second try and Sheedy converted an excellent conversion kick.
Ryan scored another valuable three points after replacement Pointon was yellow carded and despite Sheedy scoring one himself to edge Cindford close and secure a bonus point, there was no time left to find another score.
A visit to bottom of the table Henley follows in two weeks time when hopefully more points should make the run in much more easy on the nerves.
