ASSISTANT coach Pete Carey, in command because of Scott Naylor’s four-match ban, said lapses of concentration cost Roughyeds dearly in their 24-18 defeat at Newcastle.
Quarter of an hour from the end, Oldham led 18-6 but then a constant stream of errors gave Thunder the opportunity to mount a late offensive and they did it by throwing caution to the wind and looking to the speed of two-try winger Theerapol Ritson out wide to do the damage.
Said Carey:
“It’s massively disappointing, obviously. We totally controlled the first half. One lapse of concentration let them in for their first-half try but we were generally in control although playing against a strong wind.
“At half-time we spoke about them coming out strongly at us but at that stage I was confident we would have no real problem if we continued to play as well as we did in the first 40.
“All was going swimmingly when we went 18-6 up but, unfortunately, a few lapses of concentration then let them back into the game.
“The lads are totally dejected and disappointed. They feel they have let down themselves and a lot of other people.
“We always knew it would be tough up here, but we didn’t help ourselves in the last 20 minutes when we gifted them all the momentum by making far too many mistakes.
“You can’t keep making mistakes in possession against decent sides. They’ll punish you eventually and that’s what happened.
“And once they had the momentum late on and got on a roll we became rushed and panicky.”
