Hunslet's players won't be looking forward to their next training session as their player-coach Paul March picked up on the reason for missing out of a shock win at high-flying Keighley Cougars.
Keighley Cougars 20Hunslet Hawks 16He was quite emphatic after their narrow, hard-fought defeat at Cougar Park.
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email alerts from Middleton Today."If the players don't follow the game plan we lay down before the match, then they can't hope to break down sides like Keighley Cougars," he said.
* Click here to become a fan of Middleton Today on Facebook."It's as simple as that. It was a tough game and we competed. But, at the end of the day, we went away from what we wanted to do and paid the price."
The Hawks had posted the first try of the game in the third minute when full-back Wayne Larvin went over and Wayne McHugh converted.
But March was suspicious that that it did not pay off as expected for the Hawks.
"That early success could have blown us off course and we didn't want to work as hard after that went right".
Second-placed Cougars just couldn't shake the Hawks off. At one stage in the first half Keighley led 14-6 but an unconverted try by March in the 32nd minute kept the South Leeds Stadium boys in the hunt.
The honours were even in the second half. Cougars scored a Gavin Duffy try on the hour which was converted by Danny Jones – the only player in the professional game to have scored in every one of his club's games this season – but this was cancelled out by a Michael Mark try for Hunslet that McHugh converted in the 78th minute.
In fact, the Hawks might have won but for a match-saving tackle by Keighley centre Daley Williams who dislodged the ball from Larvin's hands as he dived over under Keighley's posts with seven minutes to go. It was that close.
Keighley Cougars: Rayner, Gardner, Potter, Williams, Duffy, Presley, Jones, Law, Feather, Shickell, Cartledge, Pursglove, Hughes. Subs (all used): Wray, Nicholson, Rawlins, Benjafield.
Hunslet Hawks: Larvin, Reittie, M. Brown, McHugh, Mark, Weeden, March, Hart, Chapman, Woodcock, Wabo, Dooler, Young. Subs (all used): Firm, Ekis, Watson, Lowe.
Referee: Dave Merrick.
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