Prestwich Sport
Tigers on the up
4:31pm Tuesday 29th November 2011
SEDGLEY Park have their sights firmly set on the top of National League One following their latest success, according to Rich Senior.
The Tigers produced their fourth win in five games and one of their best performances of the season to beat Blaydon 27-15 on Saturday.
Their recent form has had little effect on their league position with the Whitefield men stuck in mid-table.
But things are definitely looking up for Senior’s in-form Tigers.
“That’s because it’s the most competitive league in the country,” said head coach Senior. “We’re 11 points off third, but we’re also 10 points off fourth bottom.
“If we keep showing the form we have done at times recently we’ll definitely be up there challenging.
“I’m happy with the form in general in the last five games. We played well on Saturday, but we’ve played well at other times this season. The good thing about Saturday was we showed really good character and desire. There are just one or two more bits we need to clean up and we’ll certainly climb the table.
“We’ve worked hard on defence the last two weeks and it showed.
“We had the intensity in the tackle and we made our tackles which we’ve not sometimes been doing as well as we could. That’s down to individual responsibility.
“I can’t take anything away from the commitment of the team, everyone did their jobs very well and the concentration level for the whole 80 minutes was total.
“It was a pleasing, assured performance that sets the standards we need to achieve for the next few games. We’ve got some games coming up that we can certainly win now, and if we do we will get up the table.”
Another performance like Saturday’s would give Sedgley every chance of extending their run when they welcome lowly Barking to Park Lane on Saturday, kick off 2.30pm.
The Tigers had an early setback when they conceded the first try, but were in control from the moment speedy winger Mike Dutton scored the first of two superb tries, Matt Riley converting.
Blaydon kicked a penalty on 29 minutes, but that only proved to be a minor blip for Sedgley, who had Louis McGowan in dominant mood, and Dutton touched down on 32 minutes with Riley again successful with the conversion to give the Tigers a 14-8 half-time lead.
McGowan’s try and Riley’s kick extended the lead straight after the restart, but Blaydon hit back with a try and conversion of their own soon after.
Tigers then showed all their defensive work in training had paid off as they stood firm under pressure before two penalties by Riley sealed the game.