COVENTRY RFC suffered a narrow 27-21 defeat away at Bedford Blues to remain winless in the Championship Cup this season.
Despite two tries in a 16-point individual haul from Pat Pellegrini, and a try from Suva Ma’asi, Coventry were always behind in defeat at Goldington Road.
Bedford edged into a three-point lead when Will Maisey kicked a penalty after Coventry were penalised for their first sign of ill-discipline.
And Bedford then grabbed the first try of the game when Jamie Elliot crossed in the corner after Pellegrini did his best from the initial goal-line drop-out.
Coventry responded when Suva Ma’asi crashed over after some patient build-up with Pellegrini’s conversion reducing the deficit to a single point.
However, Bedford raced out of the blocks in the second period and scored their second try on 43 minutes through Geordie Irvine with Maisey adding the extras.
And Maisey was on song from the kicking tee as he added two more penalties to Bedford’s total as the game began to slip out of Coventry’s reach.
The visitors kept themselves in the contest when Pellegrini finished underneath the sticks and converted his own try after Will Chudley made a break in midfield.
However, Bedford stretched their lead to two scores when Maisey kicked yet another penalty only for Pellegrini to score his second try when he picked up a loose ball and dotted down before kicking the conversion.
And Coventry were unable to strike again as Maisey kicked one final penalty to take his individual haul to 17 points and inflict a second successive Championship Cup defeat on the visitors.
Coventry are next in action at home against London Scottish on Saturday, November 19 with kick-off at 3pm at Butts Park Arena.
