RHYS Morgan is refusing to make a knee-jerk reaction to his side's disappointing 22-16 defeat at Northern.

He is also urging his club's followers to get right behind the team as they look to extend their long unbeaten home record in Saturday's North One East game with Northern.

He said: "There was a lot of factors which contributed to the defeat at Northern, but you won't find me having a go at the players or making sweeping changes.

"I know there was a lot of disappointment among our followers, but I feel that some of the criticisms I have heard have been unfair.

"I would ask people to look at the statistics rather they make bald statements which do not reflect fairly on the team's performance."

The problems started for Ilkley on the journey to the North east when heavy traffic on the A1 meant they were late arriving and that cut short their preparations.

"I feel the journey was a factor," said Morgan. "We started the match poorly and gave them two tries and after that we were playing catch up. The penalty count was heavily against us in the first half and a number of decisions went against us."

"My biggest concern was the fact we kept on trying to use a new move we have been working on in training and it simply wasn't coming off.

Morgan is expecting his team to bounce back against Driffield and is hoping that forwards Nick Carolan and Pete Small will be fit to return.

Both were forced to pull out of the team for the Northern game with injuries and Morgan will wait for an assessment from the club's physio before he selects his side.

l Match report – Page 60