Mistakes prove costly for Bears at York
Picture by York Press
Mistakes prove costly for Bears at York
York City Knights 42-10 Coventry Bears
Clifton Park, York, Sunday 26th April
Coventry Bears fell to a 42-10 defeat at the hands of last years league leaders York City Knights in their round four clash in the Kingstone Press League One.
It would be a dream start for the Knights as they would grab an early try when a Pressley kick was gathered by Pat Smith to touch down near the sticks.
The opening twenty minutes were all York as they had six back to back sets during which they would grow their lead to 24-0 with tries from Kriss Brining, Greg Minikin, Harry Carter and Tyler Craig.
After the opening twenty minutes the Bears began to settle into the game. However, they would be dealt a blow when both playmakers would pick up injuries in the first half. Billy Sheen would go down with a hamstring injury while Cameron Boulter picked up a knee injury which kept both out of the second half of the game.
The Knights were good for their half time lead with the Bears needing to get control of the game if they wanted to get back into the game.
Despite needing to get into the game from the start of the second half an error early on gave Adam Dent a try when he gathered a wayward Josh Guzdek pass to touch down under the sticks making the score 30-0.
From this point the Bears grew in strength and began to get some joy against the hosts.
The Bears grabbed their first try through debuting hooker Richie Hughes who darted over from dummy half to make it 30-6 after a Stephen Coleman conversion.
They then came close to grabbing another soon after when Jamahl Hunte caught a cross field kick over the line but would spill the ball before touching down.
Both sides went set for set for a period of time before Dent grabbed a second try to extend the Knights lead to 36-6.
Pat Smith then scored his second with just ten minutes to go in the game to make it 42-6.
The Bears did get a consolation try through Hunte who sped past the Knights defenders to round off the scoring at 42-10.
It was a disappointing result for the Bears who had come to York looking to upset the odds and grab their first away win of the season.
Speaking after the game Bears Captain Simon Phillips said: “It was a disappointing performance today and one we can learn from. Too many mistakes against a quality team will always lead to the wrong result. I’ve said it before but you learn more from a loss than a win, so today we learnt and next week is another game and hopefully a better result.
Coventry Bears Head coach Tom Tsang commented: "I'm very disappointed right now. More so with the performance rather than the result. Our discipline was terrible today and we compounded that with some sloppy unforced errors. Inside the first 15 minutes we had given away 3 penalties and 4 errors which handed York field position on a plate and they were clinical and slick enough to punish us. It didn't help that we lost both our starting half backs before half time but that doesn't account for the poor showing before that. At times, With the amount of defending we made ourselves do in the first quarter of the game it wasn't a case of if they were going to score but how many. Having said all that we came out in the second half and showed very good spirit and glimpses of what we can do when we respect the ball. York proved to be a very strong side today but we can't feel sorry for ourselves as We have a tough looking couple of weeks now with Rochdale at home followed by Keighley away. We need to get back on the horse immediately and I am expecting a positive reaction. We have the talent in the team to compete with these northern teams, its just a case of settling into the contest early on in games."
They will be looking to hold onto their 100% home record next week when Rochdale Hornets make the trip to Butts Park Arena on the Sunday 3rd of May.
Coventry Bears: Josh Guzdek, Jamahl Hunte, Dan Parker, Eddie Medforth, Reece Chapman-Carry, Billy Sheen, Cameron Boulter, James Geurtjens, Alex Brown, Tom Hall, Liam Thompson, Chris Barratt, Simon Phillips (Capt) INTERCHANGE: Richie Hughes, Matt Cooper, Matt Reid, Stephen Coleman
Bears Man of the Match: Matt Cooper
NEXT HOME MATCH: Sunday 3rd May v Rochdale Hornets