COVENTRY Bears’ poor form in League One continued in Wrexham where they were put to the sword by a resurgent Crusaders.
A bumper crowd of 300 attended the game at the Queensway Stadium with a sprinkling of Bears fans making the trip.
The Bears were out of the starting blocks fast and looked keen to erase the memories of recent disappointing games but it was inevitably the home side who scored first when Tom Johnson crossed the line.
The Bears replied with some pressure and some effective kicking from Ben Stead which had the home side troubled.
However, Crusaders regrouped as Ollie Ashall sped down the wing to extend their lead and Johnson added a second try for himself to make it 18-0.
A glimmer of hope came for the Bears as the home side were reduced to 12 men following a dangerously high tackle.
Reece Rance found himself on the end of Kam Pearce-Paul’s pass to score for the Bears on the 35th minute putting the score at a respectable 18-6 at half-time.
However, that was as good as it was going to be for the Bears as Crusaders repeated their first half performance with a series of four well-worked tries from Joe Lyons, Dale Bloomfield, Aaron Moore and Ashall.
Johnson also had a faultless kicking game, converting all of his side’s seven tries.
The second half almost ended on a high note for the Bears as Pearce-Paul sprinted to the line only to be intercepted at the last second by Moore and the match ended in a 42-6 defeat.
The Bears have no fixture planned for the weekend giving head coach Tom Tsang and his players time to reflect and regroup.
