Benson gutted by defeat

TONY Benson admitted he was “gutted” to lose at Keighley after his side had recovered from an awful start.

After an improved display in the second period, the visitors looked set for at least a draw when pulling level at 26-26.

But a controversial penalty was awarded to the home side to edge them in front with eight minutes left and a try in the final stages secured Barry Eaton a third successive home league win over Oldham.

“We set goals for the first 20 minutes this week and I don’t think we achieved many, if any, of them,” said Benson, whose team picked up a bonus point.

“It is a concern and something we’re addressing. It is a case of trial and error, trying different things and seeing how it goes but the injuries to key people at the start disrupted us.

“I’m absolutely gutted that we didn’t come away with the points, though Keighley played very well. They went out to win the game and certainly took it to us and built a commanding lead in the first half which seems to be a bit of a trend for us at the moment.

“They hung on to it no matter how hard we fought.

“We showed a lot of character, particularly in the second half against the wind, to come back as we did.

“But, what I would call a very controversial penalty called the game.

“I have to watch the match DVD and can’t say too much, but some of the calls that went against us were pretty crucial and I am not sure they were correct.”

Benson wasn’t helped by a number of injuries which severely restricted the hand he could play even before the game had started.

“We lost Tommy Goulden in the warm-up which didn’t help us.

“Then we lost Rob (Roberts) and Jamie (I’Anson) which slimmed the bench down and cut down on our options,” he added.

“Chris Baines then did his elbow but had to play on as we didn’t have anyone else. But we should still have been good enough to win.”