Sponsored by
Fergie fury pays off for Aston
SHEFFIELD Eagles coach Mark Aston didn’t quite reach for the ‘Sir Alex Ferguson hairdryer’ when his players came in at half-time against Leigh Centurions - but it wasn’t pretty.
“A few people’s pride has been bruised but no physical injuries. At half-time people knew who I was pointing a finger at,” he said.
Not full Manchester United boss standard but it had an impact, with the Eagles battling back in the last 20 minutes to claim a 23-22 win with a field-goal in the final seconds from Dominic Brambani.
The second group game win keeps the Eagles on track to qualify for the knockout stages of the Northern Rail Cup.
“I’m relieved more than happy - we probably haven’t won two games back to back in the Northern Rail for a couple of years,” said Aston. “We stuck in there and beat one of the top teams in the competition.
“Our ball control in the first half was less than 50 per cent and we made nine mistakes in the first three plays - that kills you.
“To be fair, the lads put their bodies on the line and scrambled in defence and how they only went in 18-0 down at half-time was amazing - a lot of other teams would have been dead.”
The squad face some tough training sessions this week ahead of South Yorkshire derby at Doncaster on Sunday. The Dons lost 29-18 to York at the weekend.
“There is still work to do but we’re a little bit better than we have been at this stage in the competition in the past - we went to Leigh last year and got smashed 68-6,” said Aston.
“We showed what we can do. Andrew Henderson always does the job, Liam Higgins was strong, Peter Green was good when he came on and Sam Scott was when he came back off the bench.
“In the backs Nev Morrison looked strong.”
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: East
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.