*Narrow defeat....but what a game?!*
Today we asked the lads to solely concentrate on the first half of today's game. In the reverse fixture we didn't get out of our sleeping bags till half time, and Consett were out of sight by this time. We wanted a good start, and boy did we get it! Some dominance around the ruck, some great go forward and support play. We played the first 5 minutes in the Consett half and this was rewarded with a barn storming try by Leo to get us off to a flying start. However, we took our foot off the pedal and allowed Consett to dominate the last 15 minutes of the first half, conceding some soft tries which could have been prevented. Despite this, the team were really positive at half time, and were up for the challenge of the second half.

We were the better team for large parts of the second half, and scored two amazing tries through Riley and Leo to get back within one score of our visitors. There was some great commitment, attitude and togetherness which seemed to galvanise the team.
Consett then scored a couple of tries despite some amazing defence and bravery, before Riley again, and Olly scored with strong dynamic runs.

This was a team that up until last season were completely outplaying us, it's testament to how much we have progressed, and the application of the lads on game days, that we were so competitive today.

Thanks to Elliot and Isaac who had great games despite playing out of position, and a special mention to Sparkey who I asked to run forward every time he got the ball and he made some fantastic strong runs.

I always advocate performance over result, if we perform the results will follow. Despite losing, the lads loved today's match and were buzzing as they left the field. They can be rightly proud of themselves for their performance and commitment....we certainly are!

Teams are starting to target our strong players, they clearly see them as a danger. This again is a positive as we're so competitive these days. Leo won man of the match, not only for his strong performance, but also his ability to deal mentally with this added pressure.

Proud of you all!!