Hunslet use first-half negatives as match-winning motivation

THE RED card shown to prop Lewis Reed in Hunslet's dramatic 24-16 win at Keighley Cougars was harsh, according to coach Gary Thornton.
Gary Thornton.Gary Thornton.
Gary Thornton.

Reed was dismissed in the first half for an alleged late challenge and Hunslet trailed 16-0 before storming back to seal a precious win in Betfred League One.

“It was harsh in my opinion,” Thornton said of the dismissal.

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“The ref’ called play-on, but the touch judge came on and said it was a late challenge.

Lewis Reed.Lewis Reed.
Lewis Reed.

“I’ve seen a lot worse go unpunished.

“I didn’t see him raise his elbow, he’s backed into the kicker rather than front-on.

“I thought it was a tough call, but the officials only get a glimpse.”

Hunslet’s fightback – aided by a 10-0 penalty count after the break and Keighley finishing the game with 11 men – delighted Thornton.

“It was a great result,” Thornton said.

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“We deserved it; in the second half we were outstanding, especially with 12 men and in the first half I thought we were unfortunate.

“We played up the slope and we didn’t have a lot of field position.,

“We only had about two good ball sets and we were pinned in our half for long periods.

“They scored three tries off kicks and we split them three times, scored one and had two disallowed.”

One of those was for a debatable forward pass.

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And Thornton said: “That made the half-time team talk pretty easy because they were fuming.

“We talked about keeping them out and taking our chances when they came along and that’s what happened.”

Next up for Hunslet is a trip to West Wales Raiders on Saturday, kick-off 3pm. Raiders ended the regular season propping up the League One table with zero points from their 19 outings.