Aston upset the odds again

Unfortunately i don't have the lyrical inclination to wax lyrical about a game we could and should have won. We failed to capitalise on a dominate set piece, we came off second best in the loose where Astons co-captain Julius Hunt was made to look world class, we conceded a couple of tries which on another day we wouldn't have conceded and the referee had a complete brain melt on awarding one try 'for downward by the boot by the winger' (he has since apologised after googling the law on his phone in the bar ! ! !

Head Coach Jon Arch...

"We are gutted... but we move onto next Saturday and a massive challenge of facing a very strong Barton at home...

...there was a lot of positives - the lineout was simply faultless, Josh and James at 10 and 12 look something special, our defence was overall very good, and had we executed when in the try zone on 4 or 5 occasions we would have won at a canter. In my opinion we had the best 5 or 6 players on the pitch, but Aston were the better team; their work rate was immense - and we need to learn quickly !

In simple terms if you do not win the contact area you do not win the game, we got turned over 7 or 8 times (or gave away penalties for holding on), and that is our fault as a team in not working and supporting our runners well enough; our exciting offload game only works if we work to get on the shoulder of the ball carrier - we didn't....

I thought the new players from this season really stood out, Josh Atkins scored a great try, James Turner was unplayable at times and in 'Big' Ben Husthwaite, we had someone who carried hard as pace from depth, but also who put in 3 or 4 absolutely smashes of tackles in. Also Vice-Captain Josh Reynolds try was a sublime mix of pace and power - you know its a good try when the Aston fans even applaud.

We dont make excuses, yes the 3rd Aston try was a joke, but we should have had the game won well before then."

Man of the Match: Josh Atkins