Frustrating Déjá Vu for slow-starting Raiders

Raiders, on the back of completing the double over Fylde the previous weekend, put in a sluggish first-half showing which ultimately left them too much to do in their 28-20 defeat at Loughborough Students.

Slow starts have been an all-too-familar theme in Worthing’s defeats this season, but another trademark late show had Dawson admitting that, on another day, they could have snatched an undeserved victory.

The head coach said: “It was the same old, really. We do not travel well and it took us a while to get off the bus. To be honest, we were lucky to be only 11 points down at half-time. They play at a good pace and we were sluggish getting into the game.

“We were much better in the second half and eventually we could have even come back into it. We did not deserve to win the game, but we had a couple of really clear-cut chances in the last few minutes to get the bonus point and, who knows, even gone on to win it.

“It was frustrating, very, very frustrating, especially with the week before being so good. We lost Charlie McGowan through injury and James Chisholm was unavailable through England selection and they are big strong physical forwards. Ben Dudley had to come off early in the second half with a groin injury as well.

“With a couple out and things not going our way, it didn’t make it easy and we did not really turn up until the second half.”