Below par Tigers must improve (From Prestwich and Whitefield Guide)

Below par Tigers must improve

12:20pm Thursday 17th December 2009

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SEDGLEY Tigers head coach Rich Senior is looking to his players to step up their game in the second half of the season.

The Whitefield club will reach the halfway stage of the season after Saturday’s home clash with Redruth.

They go into the game 11th out of 16 but handily-placed to rise up National League One with only seven points separating them from fifth place.

The Tigers were disappointed to go down at Cinderford last weekend against a side which are one place and four points below them.

But Senior believes the defeat was typical of a lot of games this season which his side have lost and thought they should have won.

They paid for a lack of discipline by Nick Flynn which saw him sent to the sin bin.

Sedgley conceded two tries during the time he was off the field and the game swung away from the Tigers during that period.

Redruth are four points and three places above the Tigers and are another side the Park Lane will believe they can beat. But Senior says they have to turn belief into wins and that to do that they must produce on a consistent basis the kind of quality individual and team performances they have shown they are capable of on occasions.

Summing up his opinion of the first half of the season, Senior said: “It’s been disappointing that we feel we should have won a number of games that we had lost.

“Performances have been below par on too many occasions. It is about our personal desire, that’s the difference between us being a very good side and an average side.

“We need to improve on things like personal desire, concentration, discipline, and not underestimating opponents.

“We think we should be beating teams and we need to raise our game because, if anything, teams are raising their games when they play us because they see us as a big team because we have dropped down from the league above.”

Senior was disappointed with Flynn’s sin-binning against Cinderford, saying it highlighted a problem within the team which has been costing them this season.

“Personal discipline has been an issue for us,” he said. “And we have spoken about it.

“We conceded two tries during the period he was off the field and that swayed the game in their favour. The momentum swung their way and they got on top.

“It’s not the first time it has happened. Whenever someone has gone in the bin we have given points away. We have to keep 15 people on the field.

“It gives the other team an incentive and we need to cut it out.”

Senior will hand Dave Livesey his first start of the season on Saturday at blind side flanker while Ben Lloyd returns from injury at number eight.

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