Promising signs in defeat

DETERMINED PERFORMANCE AGAINST LEAGUE LEADERS HINTS AT WELCOME RETURN TO FORM FOR CANTERBURY

before the wingman raced out of the blocks and chased down his own grubber kick to leave brother Will an easy conversion and his side with a manageable nine-point deficit at the break.

There was no shortage of determination in a second half where battling Canterbury enjoyed most of the territory and took charge of the forward exchanges.

But they still came off second best, on the scoreboard.

A bad defensive lapse allowed Jon George to stride through and around too many tackles before Matt Tomlinson scored and Banks converted.

It was now a long haul but the city side, showing heart and skill, again got back to within nine points.

Hilton and Banks exchanged penalty goals before crushing pressure on the Stortford scum won Canterbury a penalty try, converted by Hilton, and fresh incentive.

Stortford, however, showed how to make the most of a limited opportunity and a lovely offload at an attacking lineout gave Neville his second try. It was a lesson the city side failed to absorb.

The rest of the match was all about their search for that precious bonus point but they could not convert continuous forward pressure into something tangible. Canterbury: A.moss (repl K .Braithwaite), G.hilton, J.jones (repl F.morgan), W.farris, K.thompson, W.hilton, D.smart, J.green (repl A.cooper), S.rogers, (repl C.townley), S.kenny, R.cadman, T.burns, M.cantwell, H. Mccormick-huston, G.micans

Head coach Andy Pratt declared himself ‘pretty content’ with his side’s showing away at the leaders on Saturday.

He said: “You have to hand it to Bishop’s Stortford, they were impressive and in good form. We had a few out but we did well, scoring 30 points there.

“I was disappointed to concede so many but while some of the tries were preventable, some of them were well executed.

“I was pretty content overall, we’ve started to show some form.

“It was three tries again for the third game in a row, though.

“We were doing pretty well with the bonus points before Christmas but they seem to have dried up.”

The city club welcome Redruth to the Marine Travel ground on Saturday (3pm) having won the away fixture 34-26 in November – their first ever win at the Cornish side.

Pratt said: “That seems an age ago. Redruth are doing well, they are a capable side.

“We are closing the gap to them this season but only the table at the end of the season will tell how much progress we have made.”

Tom Best could be available after a rib injury but JJ Murray ( hamstring) remains two weeks away from a return and Harry Sayers has broken his shoulder for a second time and will miss the remainder of the season.