Darren Bellerby was left wondering what could have been after yet another profligate showing in front of goal left his Barons staring down the barrel of a 3-1 defeat against rivals Coventry ENL Blaze.

Bellerby and the Barons were left frustrated by unconverted opportunities in front of the Blaze net.

The Barons did take an early lead through Neil Adams’ first goal since re-joining the club, but the Blaze hit back a minute later to restore parity. The away side went ahead just before the end of the first period and sealed victory in the second as Solihull struggled to turn plentiful shots to goals.

“You always want to win your derby games don’t you,” said Bellerby. “But we threw everything at them and we still have a couple of guys who aren’t match fit, they’ve just returned from injury and they looked a bit fazed out there. All credit to Coventry though, they came and put three goals in and won the game.

“We always kept trying, nobody gives up and we were going right till the end of the third period but sometimes things just go against you and like I say, it was just by two goals – it wasn’t a drubbing in any sense of the word.”

Not for the first time this season, Darren was left frustrated by the lack of clinical edge his side showed in turning shots to goals – especially on the powerplay, and he insisted that it will need to change if the Barons are to get anything from their final two matches of the season.

“We had that [5-on-3 pp] and we had three shots and missed the net on all three shots, so we’ve got no one to blame but ourselves. We should’ve scored on that 5-on-3 and we didn’t. If you don’t hit the target you don’t score the goals, simple as that!

“The losing streak could go to ten. The damage is done now. We’re going back down to ENL 2 by the looks of it. We’ve got Telford away which is going to be a tough game, then we’ve got Whitley Bay who are one of the top teams in the league, so we will have to start scoring.

“It would be nice to get a bit of positive momentum. It’s not a done deal with next season yet anyway. There is all talk of different leagues and different league structures. As I’ve said, we’re good enough to play in this league and we’ve just been too inconsistent, that’s all.”