COVENTRY Rugby were forced to settle for a 33-33 draw against Championship rivals Nottingham in the Premiership Rugby Cup.
Cov scored five tries and led by 14 points with 20 minutes left to play as Rhys Anstey, Obinna Nkwocha, Evan Mitchell, Matt Kvesic and Jimmy Martin all touched down for the home side.
However, opponents Nottingham also ran in five tries to claim a share of the spoils at Butts Park Arena with Coventry second in Pool A behind leaders Gloucester.
Coventry took the lead on 12 minutes when Anstey powered his way to the line and Mitchell converted with Nottingham lock Come Joussain in the sin bin for illegally stopping a try-scoring opportunity.
And Cov doubled their advantage when tighthead prop Eliot Salt made good ground before Nkwocha ran a perfect line to score under the posts.
Nottingham responded with a try from Michael Stronge who ran in from 35-metres out before Cov fly-half Mitchell scored and converted his own try after good work from Elliot Chilvers and Tiki Nayalo.
However, the visitors struck again before half time when Sam Hollingsworth intercepted a pass and raced to the line from 60-metres out.
And Nottingham further reduced the deficit at the start of the second half when Marcus Ramage scored in the corner.
Cov’s experienced back-rower Kvesic made an immediate impact from the bench, scoring direct from the restart before then setting up Martin to run in the home side’s fifth try on the hour mark.
However, the visitors refused to go away as David Williams fended off three defenders to score a solo try before Ellis Mee dotted down on the counter attack.
And two conversions from Nottingham replacement Morgan Bunting levelled the game at 33-all as Mitchell’s last gasp penalty went wide of the posts.
Coventry are next in action away at Gloucester on Saturday, October 7 with kick-off at 1pm at Kingsholm.
