SEDGLEY Tigers continued their winning run at the weekend but their latest victory was overshadowed by a serious injury to star winger Jamie Harrison.

Harrison spent Saturday night in hospital after suffering a back injury during the Tigers’ 30-15 win at Sale FC.

Sedgley were leading 7-3 in the 23rd minute when Sale full-back Ciaran Connolly was shown a red card for a challenge which left Harrison with a broken vertebra.

And although the Tigers went on to strengthen their grip on second place in the National League Two North, the victory was tempered by concern for their team-mate.

Coach Geoff Roberts said: “It was an unfortunate incident.

He has broken one of his vertebrae but it should repair in six weeks, like any other broken bone.

“We made harder work of the win than we would have hoped but I told the players I didn’t care how we won it as long as we came away with the five points.

“We did that bit but we’ve lost a player for the season and he’s one of our top scorers. He’s a very pacey winger and a great finisher, and we’ll miss him during the rest of the season so it’s a shame for us and for him.

“But if you look at the other side of the coin, considering what the injury could have been, we’ve got to be happy. The news was as good as we could have hoped.

“Our weekend was consumed with how he was doing so the pleasure from getting the win just passed us by. First and foremost, we were concerned about whether he’d be okay, and he is.”

Daniel Waddy had scored an early converted try for Sedgley before Harrison was carried off.

Andy Riley then touched down on 35 minutes but Sale kicked their second penalty on the stroke of half time to make it 12-6.

The Tigers stretched their lead through Matt Lamprey’s converted try just after the interval, only for Liam McGovern to kick another three penalties to cut the deficit to 19-15 with nine minutes left.

But Matt Riley eased Sedgley’s nerves with two penalties before Juan Crous clinched their fourth straight win with a bonus-point try.

“It was a lot tighter than the scoreline suggests,” Roberts admitted.

“It was a hard-fought game, as we expected. They tried to stop us playing and we didn’t have the freedom of the park.

“They then spent most of the game a man down but played out of their socks.

“They were in our faces so we didn’t play as fluently as we have been, but we did eventually get four tries and the bonus point.”

Sedgley now need just nine points from their final five games to clinch second spot and a place in the promotion play-off. They host runaway leaders Macclesfield on Saturday.

“I wouldn’t like to call it,” said Roberts.

“It’s a top-of-the-table clash so could go either way.

“Macclesfield have been more consistent than us throughout the season, they’ve played better in the heavier conditions, but hopefully we can do it and clinch a double over them.”