By Paul Smith 
Ampthill turned round a 12-point interval deficit to record their first win at the Butts Park Arena through Brandon Jackson’s last-second try.
Coventry had built a useful lead during a first half in which they took full advantage of two Ampthill players being shown yellow cards to produce some flowing attacking rugby.
But the visitors regrouped after the break to dominate a closing 40 minutes in which the hosts made plenty of errors and as a result struggled to get out of their own half.
A first-half brace for Logan Trotter plus singles from David Opoku and Sam Maunder did at least mean Cov picked up two bonus points from their afternoon’s work.
Josh Barton and Harvey Beaton responded before the break for Ampthill but it was the unanswered second-half scores from Tino Mapapalangi and Oran McNulty that left the match on a knife-edge before Jackson’s late intervention.
A lively opening saw Ampthill’s Imi Qorowale denied a counter-attack try by a superb Ryan Hutler cover tackle.
And at the ensuing breakdown both sides lost a player as a dangerous tackle from visiting lock Aidan King caused Billy Nairau to hobble off and the visiting no.4 to be rapidly despatched the sin bin.
Unbelievably, before the contest was five minutes old Cov also lost Daf-Rhys Tiueti to a shoulder injury which resulted in a three-way reorganisation of the backline and the arrival of Trotter who went on to be an influential figure in what followed.
The hosts quickly used their numerical advantage to pin Ampthill on their own line and when the ball eventually went wide the newly-arrived on-loan Glaswegian claimed his maiden Cov score to which Tommy Mathews added a simple conversion.
However, the home side’s bright start came to an immediate halt as they conceded a penalty from the restart then saw the visitors release full-back Barton to the corner for a touchdown that Louis Johnson upgraded.
An end-to-end game then saw Hutler and Trotter counter from their own 22 before the latter’s perfect cross-kick sent Opoku to the posts for a try that Mathews improved.
But again Ampthill hit immediately back through prop Beaton who applied the finishing touch to a series of pick-and-drives to register a score that Johnson again converted.
Nonetheless, the Blue-and-Whites had the lead at the half-hour mark when scrum-half Maunder got on Tom Hitchcock’s shoulder to apply a simple finish in support of the centre’s powerful carry.
After Mathews added a third conversion the Mob then lost a second player to the sin bin when Qoroli mistimed a tackle on the airborn Trotter.
And again Cov exploited the resulting space through a flowing move in which Jordon Poole carried strongly before some fluent handling released man-of-the-moment Trotter to the corner for the home side’s bonus-point score.
This left Coventry with a 26-14 half-time lead but it was Ampthill who were quickest out of the blocks after the restart when a long spell of pressure ended with flanker Mapalangi barging over from close range.
Ampthill spent most of the third quarter in home territory without adding to their scoreboard tally. This meant the game’s next significant moment was the departure of Coventry’s replacement tight-head Eliot Salt to an injury which saw the closing 19 minutes played with uncontested scrums.
A threatening outside break by Ampthill’s Barton ended with the ball being shepherded into touch deep inside the home 22 before some good defence kept the home line intact.
But the visitors continued to press and after they won a five-metre scrum it was very much with the run of play when replacement Oran McNulty eventually made it into the corner for a try that Johnson upgraded with a fine kick.
With seven minutes remaining Ampthill’s young fly-half was narrowly wide with a 35-metre drop goal and the Mob’s hard-working Mapapalangi was then denied a match-clinching try by some brave home defence that held him up in goal.
However, Cov turned possession over running from their own 22 to grant the visitors one last throw of the dice and when the ball went wide Brandon Jackson slipped a tackle and raced to the right corner to claim their fifth try and with it the spoils.
Ampthill: Barton (Mitchell 68); Jackson, Vaenuku, Strachan, Qorowale (McNulty 54); Johnson, Bracken (Morgan 68); Courtney (Flynn 54) Marshall (Issacs 60), Beaton (Norrie 65); King (Sylvester 19-28 and 61), Pearce-Paul; Mapapalangi, Rylands (Blackmore 61), Michelow
Referee: Joe James
Half-Time: Coventry Rugby 26-14 Ampthill
Attendance: 3002
Scorers:
Coventry:
Tries: Trotter (8) (30), Opoku (16), Maunder (23)
Conversions: Mathews (8) (16) (23)
Penalties:
Ampthill:
Tries: Barton (13), Beaton (19), Mapapalangi (45), McNulty (71), Jackson (80)
Conversions: Johnson (13) (19) (71)
Penalties:
