Macclesfield head coach Giles Heagerty watched with sheer frustration as his team’s slow start saw them 14-0 down inside seven minutes in a 35-15 defeat at second-placed Coventry.

“The first 11 minutes killed us,” he groaned. “You could see that once we started playing we were a match for them. We’ve scored three well-worked tries but at the same time we’ve had two visits to their 22 early in the second half and made stupid errors where, if we had kept hold of the ball, we would have scored.”

Heagerty was complimentary of their promotion-chasing hosts but felt his side deserved to come away with at least a point.

“Coventry have a very powerful pack and play some nice shapes in the back,” he continued. “They’re very aggressive at the break down.

“But at the same time we’ve slit our own throats again by gifting away possession through stupid penalties – we were penalised four times for offside, that’s unforgivable.

“We came here to get points, and we gave ourselves ample opportunity to do that but we didn’t execute when it counted.

“That comes down to decision making, we need to stay calmer. Technically we are a very good side but when it’s mattered we haven’t been accurate enough, and it’s cost us. we need to make better decisions and focus when it matters.”

Sam James played at fly-half, the absence of Tom Morton and Jordan Brookes meaning Tom Eaton moved to nine and James filled in at 10.

“Considering he only found out on Thursday, he played well, he’s a really good player and has an intelligent rugby brain – he will always try and do everything and at half-time I had to tell him not to, which meant he had a much better second half.”

The Blues host Blackheath this Saturday and will be looking for their first home win of the season, and to build on recent good performances.

“Blackheath want to consolidate themselves in the top half and they ‘nilled’ us down there so we are well aware of how good they are, it’s our job to combat that and go out to win the game, we know what we need to improve on. But the nil scoreline isn’t something we are dwelling on going into game.”