LEE DOUGLAS: We’ll need to improve at Bradford

We go to Bradford & Bingley on Saturday well aware that they’ve enjoyed a strong start to the season.
Coach's Corner with Scarborough RUFC coach Lee DouglasCoach's Corner with Scarborough RUFC coach Lee Douglas
Coach's Corner with Scarborough RUFC coach Lee Douglas

To date this season we still haven’t played well, but we’ve only lost one game and you could argue that we shouldn’t have lost that one too.

Yes, we’ve been hit with injuries that have upset our momentum and hindered our team cohesion as well, but we have to improve and quickly.

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We’ll need to be at our best on Saturday, it’ll be challenging match and they’ll be no mugs, that’s for sure.

Despite the league seeming to be quite open this year, they’ve taken a real stanglehold on things and Saturday’s game will be a massive challenge for the guys.

Yet again the key word from Saturday’s draw with Old Brodleians was frustration.

It was incredibly frustrating as for the first 10-15 minutes we were in full control, doing all the attacking and it appeared as though it was going to be a good day for us.

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We went three points up and then they intrecepted a pass and ran the full length of the field to score under the posts.

They had some momentum and all of a sudden we found ourselves 14-3 down and we were chasing the game.

We didn’t chuck our hand in, but they weren’t throwing particularly challenging ball, but we didn’t cope with it.

That comes back to decision-making once again, and we’ve said this time and time again.

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It needs to be an instant decision-making process and that comes down to game management.

We played very safe, laboured rugby and we never broke them down.

It was great to have our skipper Tom Ratcliffe back in the side, he’s a quality player and he pops up at the right time and in the right place.

I did say to Tom that he wasn’t involved enough on Saturday.

When he influences play, things happen, but he needs to up his effort levels and get involved more.

We need him involved all the time, and I know he’s working hard on doing just that at the moment.

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