Golden opportunity missed

Sep 6 2007 by Nick Purewal, Evening Chronicle

GATESHEAD Thunder missed out on the chance to leapfrog rivals Keighley in National League Two last night, slumping to a disappointing defeat at Hunslet.

The Hawks kept Thunder at arms’ reach all night, keeping a clean sheet and scoring a try either side of half time to snuff the life out of the contest.

A try, two goals and a drop goal from Darren Robinson were the catalyst for the victory, and Thunder can be frustrated not to have made more of their game in hand.

A golden opportunity to restore a bit of pride and slither up the table wasted, Thunder now move on to the final league match of the season, at home to Celtic Crusaders on Sunday.

Head coach Dave Woods said the players kept probing all night, but it just was not going to be their night.

He said: “We threw everything at them and forced it as much as we could when we had the ball, but it just didn’t work for us in the end.

“The guys are disappointed and so am I, because despite it being another tricky away match we really felt we could come away with the points.

“Still, all that’s left now is to knuckle down again and prepare as well as we possibly can for Sunday’s match.

“We know just how hard that will be after our game down there just a few weeks ago.

“The lads are under no illusions that they really have to pull out all the stops for this one.”