Harrogate RUFC did not do themselves justice during defeat to promotion rivals Alnwick RFC
Jake Brady does not feel that his Harrogate RUFC players came anywhere close to doing themselves justice during Saturday's 17-8 defeat at Alnwick.
The Aces saw their slim North One East title hopes all but ended by their second loss in as many matches, and were also leapfrogged by their opponents on the day as they ended the weekend third in the table.
Having taken an early 3-0 lead, the men from Rudding Lane shipped 17 unanswered points before the interval and were unable to claw their way back into the contest in the second period.
"It's frustrating," director of rugby Brady told the Harrogate Advertiser. "We were nowhere near our best, and Alnwick deserved to win the game.
"It was quite an attritional match and Alnwick did the basics better than us, they executed their game-plan better than we did and they edged the battle up front.
"We were poor in that first half. A couple of lapses in concentration led to their two tries and they got themselves into a good position in the game.
"I can have no complaints about the result, and Alnwick is a tough place to go, but I know that we are more than capable of winning that game if we turn up and apply ourselves properly.
“It would be fair enough if we had given it our best shot, but we didn’t. So we have to keep learning and make sure that we get better.”
Kristan Dobson’s early penalty was quickly cancelled out by a try from Alnwick’s Richard Elliott, converted by Jim Blackett.
Blackett then crossed himself on the half-hour, before he added the extra two points, then kicked a penalty to make it 17-3 at the interval.
Steve Maycock went over 10 minutes into the second period to reduce the deficit, though Harrogate were unable to add any further points to their tally during the final half an hour.
Defeat leaves the Aces third in the table, where they now sit three points behind Alnwick and 15 shy of unbeaten league leaders Heath.
This Saturday, ‘Gate entertain rock-bottom Cleckheaton at Rudding Lane.
"The good thing is that we only have to wait seven days for an opportunity to put things right,” Brady added.
"We need a performance and a result when we play Cleckheaton, and so our full focus will be on delivering that.
"We’ve not played well in our last two matches, so I need to remind the boys just how good a team we can be when we get it right.”