SO CLOSE BUT STILL NO CIGAR
Two missed two point conversion attempts denied Caledonian Roughriders their first ever franchise victory after suffering a nail biting 14-12 home defeat to the Teeside Cougars. The visitors could not have asked for a better start, when a touchdown, from Chyne MacDonald and Pete Rogers along with a Dave Fillingham’s 2 point conversion catch gave the English a 14-0 half time lead. But a terrific second half defensive display from Cally along with two touchdowns from Ian McGowan reduced the deficit to just two points, but they failed to kill Teeside off with a number of clear cut chances in the final quarter. But despite the disappointment of another defeat, Head Coach, Robert Mann, he can see how far they have progresses in their development since last year. He said:” At no point last year were we ever in this situation where we could have won a game in the fourth quarter. We had the ball and the chances, but it was just one of those things. Our defense was awesome. They are a completely different team from last year. Everyone is playing the way that they can play.” The Roughriders will be facing their next Glasgow derby next week when they take on the Glasgow Tigers, who ran up approximately 150 points against them last season. But the players remain confident that it will be a much more closely contested affair this time.
“Our team have really bonded and every one is playing for each other which is good to see. Hopefully we will have that for Glasgow and take it too them.” Added Linebacker Paul Entrican: “We made a couple of mistakes at the start, but we came back from that. Next week there will be no mistakes.” “We are not rookies any more; we are training a lot better. And we would not be here without the help of the Pirates.” MORE |
“Our
Quarterback, Ally Choat is on fire,” said Ian McGowan. “He
done well throwing the ball, especially with it being so wet. Hopefully
we will take that to Glasgow and give them a game.
