PLAYER-COACH Alan Keylock spoke of his shock and disappointment after Barkers Butts swept Malvern aside with a storming start to the second half.
The flanker said he was confident of securing a valuable win over their fellow strugglers as they trailed 12-8 at half time.
But two tries in the opening ten minutes of the second period stunned the visitors as they went on to suffer a 27-13 defeat to Barkers, which leaves them just two points above the relegation zone.
“It was a classic game of two halves,” he said. “I was happy with the first half as I thought we were clinical and the only time they got the ball was from our mistakes.
“I thought the work rate from Jamie Anderson in particular was phenomenal and considering there was a strong wind going across the pitch the backs really got involved.
“But at the start of the second half they scored pretty much from the kick off and it just all fell away from us very quickly. It was a shock as they did not look like scoring in the first half, but in the second half they scored two quick tries.
“Things then fell away from us and we have only got ourselves to blame.”
Keylock admitted the Coventry outfit utilised their strong scrum to great effect in boggy conditions as Malvern’s inexperienced front row struggled to contain their opposite numbers.
However, the 27-year-old is confident his pack of forwards will bounce back when they go head to head with Berkswell and Balsall at Spring Lane on Saturday (2.15pm).
“The potential that we have in the scrum is top four or five in the league,” he said. “However, we came across a better front row on Saturday.
“They had a lot more experienced and you can’t buy that.
“It is going to be intense this weekend and it is going to be hard because trying to take any confidence into the game based on our scrummaging on last week will be difficult.
“But we will take sure they step up because it is there. It is not like we physically cannot do it.
“It is just the difference of three front rows which have been converted into different positions against three experienced front row rugby players.”