Cornish Pirates 'let slip' chance of Ealing victory - Gavin Cattle

Cornish Pirates have won four and drawn four of their eight Championship games this season

Cornish Pirates coach Gavin Cattle says his side "let slip" a chance to beat Championship leaders Ealing.

The Pirates led 12-5 with 20 minutes to go thanks to first-half tries from Will Crane and Tommy Wyatt.

But yellow cards for Crane, Joe Elderkin and Will Britton in the final quarter saw the hosts concede three times to lose 25-12 at the Mennaye.

"Credit to Ealing for some of that pressure, like we did in that first half," Cattle told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"I just felt we had a good opportunity there that we've let slip."

The loss sees Cattle's side stay seventh in the Championship having returned to league action after three successive bonus-point wins in the Championship Cup.

"We knew the danger Ealing posed, if you look at them traditionally the last 20 minutes is when they empty their bench," added Cattle.

"We felt we had the calibre there to match that, but with the sin-binnings and the cumulative picture you can't contain an attack with 14 men.

"There was one cynical penalty from us, the rest was from the cumulative pressure.

"They were team offences where there's a myriad of penalties, but when you get in that final 10 minutes you're talking inches and you've got to take a gamble to get off the line to win the contact."