Hough comments Hornets v Thunder

Hornet’s hooker Chris Hough dedicated Sunday’s victory at Spotland over Gateshead Thunder to coach Ian Talbot, who was absent due to family illness.

He said: “Today was about getting a win for Ian Talbot. He is having a hard time at the moment. I think the boys showed the grit, determination and hopefully we will show that again when we entertain Oldham on Thursday.

“At this time of the season it is about getting the wins and the momentum to go into the play-offs. I think we showed some great touches.

"I believe Oldham have drawn with Gloucester All Golds at Whitebank so they will be coming here firing on all cylinders, they will be licking their wounds.

“We had that long spell playing away from home and we didn’t perform and the lads know that. We have got to make sure we are on song.”

The home team were made to fight hard by the visitors, who are a much better side than that beaten 46-4 in the north-east earlier in the season. And, having recently beaten South Wales away from home and pushed North Wales close, they were in no mood to roll over.

Hough, though, was pleased by his team’s efforts and was able to take lots of positives from the display.

He added: “A win is a win.

"We had quite a lot of chances and I thought we scored some great tries.

"Credit to Gateshead, they hung in there, they never gave in and at the back end they caused us some problems.

“When we went direct, then played out wide I think we caused them a lot of problems. When we started to go wide, before we went forward, we caused ourselves problems and that’s when turnover ball occurred.

“I think Danny Yates and Paul Crook linked up very well. Our kicking game today was spot on, we turned them around and we forced some errors.

“Having Warren Thompson back from injury is a big plus and Carl Forster playing 40-50 minutes on the trot, which very few front rowers in this division can do, is superb.

“Wayne English put some lovely passes out in the first half, but I think everyone is linking up well. Our backs were against the wall.”

The Hornets’ man’s final praise went to four-try hero Gareth Langley: “It’s a great coup for Gareth scoring four tries. I think a few players have done it this year in this division but to get four tries is tremendous, it takes some finishing. He finished everything given to him.”

Thursday’s match kicks off at 7pm.