Cov' will no doubt rue the three missed penalties by Russell, but in all fairness they were more than good enough on the day to deny the Pirates even a losing bonus point. That they didn't, was significantly more down to the two Pirates tries only coming when the hosts were down to less than the requisite 15, because otherwise there was little if any threat in a game that rarely entered Coventry's 22.

Keen to kick start their season after two low key defeats already, it was the home side who perhaps predictably enjoyed the early spoils on a glorious autumn afternoon. Steenson's kick off was ably dealt with despite Gisende's presence but Cov's first foray into Pirate territory reaped only a missed Russell penalty.

This discrepancy was quickly redeemed as Russell slotted a second penalty chance with less than five minutes gone to make it 3-0, and hopefully (for them) settle any home nerves.

It seemed to as well, as the Pirates were forced to weather further pressure from a lively Coventry side who threatened but didn't quite deliver that killer blow. Perhaps as a consequence the Pirates awkwardly perhaps clawed their way back into contention to put Cov under pressure in their half at last as the quarter of an hour mark approached.

Breaks by McAtee and Winnan promised more, but some poor handling at the crucial moments let them down. Even so a Blues indiscretion eventually resulted, giving Steenson a kickable chance which duly sailed so narrowly wide of the left upright. A moment of note then as this was the Irishman's first missed kick of the season. Even so there was no cause for panic necessary as the Cornishmen sustained their recent ascendancy to win a further penalty a minute later at the expense of Coventry's hooker, Whitehead, who was despatched to the sin bin for a blatant offside.

With the line beckoning, Steenson rightfully put the ball into the corner in search of seven rather than three points. Coventry's defence held the shove from the lineout as the Pirates' maul floundered short of the line. The resulting scrum stumbled too, to hand Coventry a chance to clear their lines, but a glaring schoolboy error saw McGlone inexplicably knock on from a tap kick giving the Pirates the initiative once more.

There was little answer as Nick Buckley firstly bulldozed his way through the defence, before pirohuetting a way over to score the first try of the game. His contribution so far and until his substitution later, being one of few bright sparks in the Pirates line-up.

The conversion was good to make it 7-3 in the Pirates favour, and surely open things up for them?

Well no actually, as this only seemed to irritate Cov whose reposte was immediate. The restart was turned over relatively easily, and it was centre Donovan Sanders who brushed aside some woeful tackling to score easily under the posts. Russell made no mistake with the conversion and Cov had regained the lead. 7-10.

For the remainder of the half it was Cov who seemed to have the edge, but they seemed unable to capitalise as the Pirates defence plugged it's gaps at a time when they should have been exposing their opponents'.

With half time only minutes away Whitehead rejoined the fray, with his team having successfully engineered a level balance sheet scorewise in his absence. The Pirates though lost the services of Motusaga for ten minutes as he reacted to an apparent stamping from a Cov boot. Russell's subsequent penalty rubbed salt in the wounds, and already hairdryers were being fired up in readiness for a colourful dressing room chat by McKay. 7-13.

Despite this questionable setback, the Pirates rallied sufficiently to finish the half with some dignity and force another penalty chance. Steenson easily claimed this gift to leave the score at 10-13 as the whistle sounded but there was little to get excited about from a Pirate p-o-v. Coventry on the other hand had plenty to build on even if they had inexpicably only a three point margin to show for their efforts.

Coventry resumed the game after the interval with the sun in their faces, as the Pirates looked to put the home side to the sword. Almost immediately a break by Gesinde gave hope of better things for the visitors but this proved only a false dawn.

In an attempt to freshen things up front, Kemp and Heard came on at hooker and prop respectively in place of Elloway and Seal as Iva returned from jail. Despite this, there was no real change in the pecking order as Coventry maintained their relative dominance and continued to disrupt and create in equal amounts.

Even so there was no reward for these endeavours for another quarter of an hour until Russell slotted a second penalty to restore a six point advantage. This signalled a double change from Cov who brought on Friswell and Maddocks for Whitehead and Rimmer to counter the Pirates own fresh front row changes.

All the play now seemed to be in the Pirates half but without any serious incursions into their 22, the Cornishmen's defence seemingly not kicking into full on mode until then.

The hosts gamely pressed for what surely would be the decisive score. The handling and movement was effective in comparisonto the Pirates, but they too were prone to silly errors or turnovers as the pressure of nailing a result hove into view.

Two golden opportunites for Russell to seal things with the boot came and went, and the optimist in any Pirate fan began to wonder. Former Cov-man James Moore replaced Bolt at scrum half and slowly the complexion altered.

Ill discipline too reared it's head and Coventry replacements Hodge (D) and Walls found themselves watching from the sidelines as their 13 colleagues were increasingly put under pressure seriously for the first time with only five minutes remaining.

Cumming came perilously close first only to be held up as he crossed the whitewash. But the momentum was now with the Pirates and memories of some last gasp victories came flooding back, albeit more glorious circumstance than this one. A 5m attacking scrum followed and with Crackers picking up from the back and charging at the fullback, there really was only going to be one outcome.

Steenson was never going to miss from there and an unlikely win was moments away. Coventry gamely tried from the restart but despite turning over possession once more, their attack petered out to allow the Pirates to hack the ball in to touch to give Mr Wilson reason to whistle for the last time.

Character at the death it may have been, but no one in Pirates colours could have denied the injustice of it all. At least there was no controvesy or debate over how the game was won, but the players' sheepish reaction and apology to the travelling fans for their showing spoke volumes.

Skipper for the day Steenson commented after that this was not good enough if they have real ambition. And rightly so if the post match huddle was anything to go by! Shall we just say that Jim's grasp of some of the finer points of Anglo Saxon inflection has come on leaps and bounds as he spelt out to a humbled squad exactly what he expected from them. Be under no illusions, if anyone doubts the sincerity of his observations, they will be plying their trade elsewhere and pronto.

Thoughts of raising Steve McQueen for some kind of Great Escape cameo may have been amusing in the Press Gang's own 'huddle' afterwards. But this was anything but such an heroic comparison! An escape maybe, but nothing to be proud of which I'm sure will be translated into training next week. I pity them but know that there is something special to follow when the penny drops!

Cornish Pirates 17
15 Adryan Winnan, 14 Rhodri McAtee, 13 Paul Devlin, 12 Nick Buckley, 11 Brian Tuohy
10 Gareth Steenson (Captain), 9 Richard Bolt, 8 Chris Cracknell, 7 Iva Motusaga, 6 Eniola Gisende
5 Bruce Cumming, 4 Joe Beardshaw, 3 Dan Seal, 2 Rob Elloway, 1 Peter Cook.

Replacements: 16 Sam Heard (45 for Seal), 17 Johnny Williams (72 for Cook), 18 Nathan Kemp (45 for Elloway), 19 Scott Hobson, 20 Simon Whatling (80 for Buckley), 21 Steve Winn, 22 James Moore (60 for Bolt).

Tries: Buckley, Cracknell

Cons: Steenson 2

Pen: Steenson

Coventry 16
15 Ben Toft (Capt), 14 Kurt Johnson, 13 Ben Russell, 12 Donovan Sanders, 11 George Dixon, 10 Myles Dorrian, 9 Tom Slater, 8 Laurie McGlone (Vice Capt), 7 Darren Clayton, 6 Henno Venter, 5 Ollie Hodge, 4 Gregor Gillanders, 3 Rudi Brits, 2 Chris Whitehead, 1 Carl Rimmer.

Replacements: 16 Stuart Friswell (56 for Rimmer), 17 Dai Maddocks (56 for Whitehead), 18 Danny Hodge (52 for Hodge!), 19 Jamie Millar (70 for Clayton), 20 Mike Walls (70 for Slater), 21 Ronnie McLean ( for Sanders), 22 Lee Parry.

Try: Sanders
Con: Russell
Pens: Russell 2

Referee: Mark Wilson

Touch Judges: Andy Taylorson, Martin Buck

Assessor: Bob Bullock