ILKLEY'S head of rugby Rhys Morgan is treating last Saturday's 10-5 defeat at Wirral as a one-off.

Still scratching his head as to the way the National League Three North match unfolded, he said: "It was definitely one that got away.

"We must have either dropped the ball or turned over possession eight or nine times in their red zone but we were unlucky with a few decisions from the referee.

"For example, Ben Magee picked the ball up and was heading for the line when he got a shove in the back, which could have resulted in a yellow card, but the referee was unsighted.

"Also James Johnson was taken out with a neck-high tackle by their back-rower when he was running a beautiful line.

"But, having said that, we could have been a bit more clinical as we dropped the ball over their line. It was just one of those days."

The result and the errors in Wirral's defensive third apart, what also frustrated Morgan was the yellow cards picked up by Nick Carolan and Iain Mackenzie.

Morgan said: "I could have understood it if they were trying to prevent a match-winning try near our line but the cards came when we were 25 to 30 metres out.

"There was no need, and we were down to 13 men for 14 minutes. I could see Nick's yellow card coming but Iain's was more harsh."

An additional irritation for the Dalesmen is that they could have been higher up the table.

"We are seventh," said Morgan, "but we could have been pushing for fourth if we had won."

Having said that, Morgan was pleased that Ilkley did not concede any points when they were short-handed. In fact, there were no points in the second half at all.

The first phase of the season, marked by the week off for the World Cup final, is now over, and teams can look forward to playing on heavier grounds in the five matches leading up to Christmas.

But Morgan, ahead of the first of those games at home to Birkenhead Park on Saturday and bolstered by the signing of lock or back-rower Nathan Smith from Harrogate, is confident that Ilkley can cope, saying: "We won at Rochdale last season on a day when our backs didn't see much of the ball, and also against Wheatley Hills and West Hartlepool."