SIMON SMITH: Derby defeat was incredibly frustrating

Saturday's derby defeat against Bridlington was a very hard one to stomach.
Simon SmithSimon Smith
Simon Smith

To lose such a hard-fought game in that fashion in injury-time is very disappointing.

It looked like we’d nicked it when we broke out from our line and James Perrett showed them a clean pair of heels and touched down.

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I thought we’d dealt with their kick-off and would then see the game out, but we gave away a penalty, albeit a very soft one, and they capitalised to take the spoils.

Without a doubt in my mind, conditions played a huge part in Saturday’s encounter.

It was a miserable afternoon which in turn led to a lot of handling errors anda very stop-start game, which really didn’t suit us at all.

We couldn’t get into any kind of full flow and that probably cost us in the end.

It was a close game, as most derby encounters tend to be.

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We had the better of the first half encounters, and they edged the second half more.

They gave the man of the match award to Tom Hicks after the game and I would tend to agree with that.

Tom has really impressed me since he joined us last year, and it’s good to see him getting over the injury problems that plagued him last season.

Our new French prop, Alexis Core, started with a bang when he lifted their prop off his feet at his first scrum.

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The referee wasn’t too happy, but he definitely made an impactful first impression - that’s for sure.

Looking ahead now, we go into Saturday’s home game against Cleckheaton for our first game of the new campaign at Silver Royd, and it’s set to be a good turnout with it being our annual Ladies Day.

It’s always a hugely fantastic day for the club and I know a lot of time and effort goes into organising it, so thank you to everyone who helps out.

We will still be without Tom Harrison again this weekend.

He’ll have a scan this week and we’ll see where we go from there.

We’ve got a few bumps and bruises but that’s only natural.

Other than that, we should have everyone else available for selection as we look to win our first home game of the 2018/19 campaign.