The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Lions and Borough both decked after playing the wrong cards
Rugby - English Clubs Championship
‘Cards are killing us’. That was the message drummed into Lions and Borough at training this week after both city sides suffered Saturday setbacks. The Lions went down 28-19 at Scunthorpe in National League Division Three and Borough lost 35-27 at home to Oakham in Midlands Division Two East (South).
In each case it was a third loss on the trot and both defeats were down to a lack of discipline.
The Lions were leading 1916 with an hour gone in their game after a much improved showing than of late.
But then out came the cards. Chris Humphrey and Marius Andrijauskas were sin-binned, the Lions were down to 13 and Scunthorpe grabbed two tries to nick it.
Frustrated chairman Andy Moore said: “It was a much, much better performance - the lads gave everything and here and there we played some quite brilliant rugby.
“But once again we let ourselves down with those yellow cards. The minute you lose your concentration against a side like Scunthorpe they’re on you. And that’s precisely what happened.
“If we can sort out our discipline, results will come.”
On Saturday, the Lions face a crunch ‘relegation’ battle at home to Sutton Coldfield (2.15pm).
They are deep in the relegation zone while the Lions are only just above it.
Borough will travel to Olney on Saturday with the wrath of coach Lee Adamson still ringing in their ears, as a result of their display last week.
From the start Borough looked lethargic. The tackling was poor and the defence was slow, but most disappointing was the lack of application and poor discipline shown both by individuals and the team in general.
Harry Roe and Jack Gunn were yellow carded and Ben Crooks saw red for throwing a punch.
It meant that for large percentages of the game they played with either 14 or 13 men and this has started to become a regular issue.
Vice- chairman Archie Bennett said: “Discipline has to improve, and this will have been hammered home to the players at training this week.
“We are all disappointed by the way things are going. We had the ideal opportunity to put our season back on track last weekend and we spectacularly blew it.
“The squad now need to stand up and be counted and show what they are made of. There is a lot of hard work being put in during training, but when we cross the line something seems to be missing. I am hoping for a huge improvement in all areas on Saturday at Olney.”
Borough will be forced into changes this week with skipper Sam Crooks ruled out for up to six weeks with a shoulder injury and brother Ben suspended.
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