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Tight Hornets on play-off path

Mike Floyd
5/ 8/2008

CONSISTENCY is the key for Hornets as they reflect on three victories within the space of seven days.

Sunday’s 38-8 win at Blackpool Panthers completed the hat-trick, with victories over Doncaster and Barrow Raiders already in the bag.

More remarkably, the same 13 players were in the starting line-up, as were the same four substitutes.

And nowhere is this more evident than in defence where Hornets are developing as a cohesive unit, having conceded just four tries in the three matches.

At Blackpool the performance, not surprisingly, lacked the intensity of the previous two games, but the win virtually secures Hornets a play-off place.

With the top eight qualifying they are now in seventh position, eight points ahead of ninth-placed Swinton Lions, their opponents on Sunday.

Hornets boss Darren Shaw wore a smile as wide as the ‘Golden Mile’ and said: "We made it a little bit hard for ourselves in the first half. I thought we smartened up a little bit in the second. We conceded two tries today but in the three games this week we have only conceded four tries and we scored more than 100 points ourselves. It has been a great week for the club and full credit to the players, their attitude and commitment has been fantastic.

"We now have to keep looking after what we are doing and keep progressing. It’s Swinton next up for us and it’s another must win.

"It helps to have continuity but we have players in the wings ready to step in. We copped a couple of knocks and I didn’t want to put players back on so we will re-assess and see where we are with our injuries. It’s that time of year. But we have fresh people to bring in and if we need to play them we will play them. As I have said I can’t thank the players enough for their commitment and attitude. They have been outstanding and we will look forward to next week and the two games after that."

Shaw won’t be slacking off and he knows how important it is to go into the play-offs in good form, adding: "It’s massive. We want to keep that continuity.

"We are a team that can defend quite well, which we have shown over the last week, against good opposition. If you can get on top of that part of your game you are doing a good thing.

"We can score tries and you have to get the balance right. At the moment I am happy with the way things are going. We were a little bit flat on Sunday and lacked a bit of discipline but we got the result.

"Swinton will be tough. I know they have added Mike Wainwright to their squad and he will add that little bit more experience. The win against Hunslet will give them confidence. They’ll have that momentum back so they will be a tough outfit to come up against."

Co-Operative National League Two tables in Wednesday's Observer