Magical Maisey holds nerve to give Cov bragging rights

COVENTRY reclaimed the local bragging rights from high-flying Birmingham Moseley with the tightest of victories in a pulsating West Midlands derby played in front of the biggest crowd at Butts Park Arena for a National League One game.

Again, the home side left it late with a penalty from Will Maisey in the last minute of normal time.

Moseley had launched a spirited comeback from 130 down to lead midway through the third quarter despite struggling in the set scrum.

Cov enjoyed the perfect start when James Stokes and Pete White combined to send in Tom Howe between the posts, Tony Fenner converting.

Fenner then kicked two penalties for 13-0 after 25 minutes to the home side.

But a James Williams penalty put Moseley on the board and the rest of the half belonged to the visitors.

With White in the sin-bin for Cov, Moseley finally broke through a stubborn defence in stoppage time, Aaron Crofts burrowing over and Williams convert- ing to cut the gap to three points heading into halftime.

Fenner landed his third penalty nine minutes after the break, but Cov were caught napping from the restart.

Moseley worked the ball to the left flank for replacement Jake Farnworth to score their second try which Williams converted from wide out to put his

side in front for the first time.

Two Williams penalties widened the gap further and the visitors looked to be in control.

But Cov’s forwards powered over from a lineout for Matt Price to touch down with Maisey’s conversion levelling the scores.

And the replacement sealed the crucial victory as he held his nerve to slot the winning kick from left of the posts as his forwards forced an error from their Moseley counterparts.

And Cov director of rugby Rowland Winter was quick to praise the efforts of his forwards after knocking off second-placed Moseley.

He said: “I think we’ve won the game up front, but it was a good all round performance.

“We battled well and to go into half-time in the lead was massive for us.

“We had a patch when we looked a bit rocky and we were a bit sloppy with our discipline and the penalty count which gave them a chance to get back into the game.

“But we’ve talked about beating sides above us in the table to show progress and we’ve done that.”