The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Deflated skipper Sam Cooke admits that he doesn’t know what went wrong for Spalding RFC last weekend.
Town were hammered 50-5 at Southwell (see page 46), despite going into the game full of confidence after earning their first Midlands Two East (North) win of the season the previous week.
Cooke admits that his side probably underestimated the size of their task and feels that a host of individual errors ultimately proved key.
“I don’t really know what went wrong,” said the Town captain. “Maybe we didn’t realise the size of our task.
“We turned up there and weren’t expecting such an impressive set-up – perhaps that knocked us off our game. I can’t put my finger on it. The weather was bad, but we started well enough and matched them early on.
“But the performance then dropped dramatically and we began making a string of individual errors.
“We did lose a lot of players midweek, so the squad wasn’t as strong as we’d have liked.
“But it was as bad as the previous week was good.”
Town, who remain bottom of the table, find themselves back on the road this Saturday as they visit fifth-placed West Bridgford (2.15pm).
Their hopes have already taken a bit of a hit with the news star winger Harry Harrison is unavailable.
Cooke believes that Harrison has been Spalding’s top performer in recent weeks and accepts he’ll be a big loss.
He’s also appreciative of a West Bridgford side that he expects to be strong, but is simply concentrating on ensuring Town do the basics right in Nottinghamshire.
“We know West Bridgford are a good side,” added Cooke. “They drew with Southwell a few weeks ago, so that tells us all we need to know. It’s just important that we come together as a team and consolidate.
“We’ve got some home games coming up over the Christmas period and we want to win those matches. But we need to get the basics right and remember that winning feeling.
“Harry will be a big miss for us. He’s had a huge impact since coming back to the club and we’re lucky to have him.
“He’s been our best player and there’s no escaping that it’s a big blow.”
