By John Wilkinson COVENTRY’S eight-try win over Old Albanian put any remaining frustration at the side’s earlier performance in St Albans firmly to bed according to head coach Nick Walshe.
The 21-19 win in St Albans in week three of the season is one of just two occasions when Cov have failed to secure a bonus point in their so far unbeaten run, and OA missed a late penalty chance to snatch victory.
“We did mention the game down there in the build-up and that they’d actually got closer to us than any other team,” sad Walshe following Saturday’s 52-5 win at Butts Park Arena.
“To give credit to Albanian they were very good that day, but we were off our game so we did want to prove a point to ourselves that it was just a blip in or season, and I think we did that.
“It was always going to be a tricky one and after Christmas and New Year you are always thinking about how much the boys have been indulging, but we had a good week’s training leading up to the game.
“We could have been a bit tighter, but I think the fact that the boys have come out and put 50 points on a decent side that has a lot of Saracens Academy boys, so has got some quality, is great and we were really happy with the performance.
“Conditions were tricky, it was a heavy pitch and it was quite windy and cold, so I think to score eight tries against a decent side was a good effort.
“It was a good attacking performance, and to only concede one try indicates a strong defensive effort.”
Cov made a number of changes from the side that had convincingly beaten Birmingham Moseley before the Christmas break, but the players who came in all made a telling contribution wth ooen side flanker Olly Povoas named man-of-the-match by game sponsors The Royal Oak.
“We wanted to give the likes of Tony Fenner, Olly Povoas and Luc Jeannot a chance because it’s a squad game and you’re not going to go through the whole season with the same team,” said Walshe.
“It was also Pete White’s first start to a game after a long injury break, so it’s really pleasing that they all came in and played well.”
With Darlington Mowden Park and Plymouth Albion both suffering postponements, Cov are now 18 points clear at the top of National League One going into a visit to fifth-placed Blackheath this Saturday.
Said Walshe: “I suppose the table doesn’t lie, we are 18 points clear which has to be good, and we are n a string position.
“We’ll just keep going – the big thing is to not get too far ahead of ourselves, but the boys are quite grounded and we make sure of that.
“We’re constantly trying to improve, and we’d talked at the start of the week about trying to push on and not be complacent over what we’ve done. In that respect the boys were great on Saturday.
“We want to keep playing well each week, to go in and perform in every game, and if you play to a decent standard then you’ve always got a good chance of winning games.”
