Mike Schmid insists Esher's never-day-die spirit can halt Coventry's revival in Saturday's National One clash at Pillar Data Arena.

The Molesey chief was delighted with the gritty 11-5 victory at Newbury last weekend.

Esher's second win of the campaign lifted them into 12th place and now Schmid has called for a repeat against former English giants Coventry.

The Blue and Whites have rocketed up the table with three straight wins after losing their opening four games.

But Schmid insists Esher can claim a second home win. He said: "I thought the boys did tremendously well at Newbury.

"I've never seen the guys so tired after a game because they worked so hard for the whole 80 minutes.

"Both sides knew the importance of the match and it was great to have an international referee of the calibre of Chris White in charge.

"We had to defend tremendously well at times and it was a great team performance to a man.

"Now we have to show the same intensity against Coventry, who are always very competitive.

"I guess we're meeting them at the wrong time in a way because they are in good form at the moment. But we have competed well throughout the season and we are capable of beating them."

Coventry made sweeping changes to their squad last summer under new coach Murray Henderson.

They started the campaign with four successive defeats but have won four out of their last five, including an impressive win at Plymouth.

Schmid added: "I'll be looking at a DVD of them of course but our main focus always has to be our performance.

"As a part-time side you only have so much time to look at the opposition. What we need to do is make sure we do the right things and then we know we'll be competitive."

Schmid hopes to have full-back Neil Hallett and former British Lions centre Rob Henderson back after injury.