ILKLEY'S head of rugby, Rhys Morgan, jovially claimed that a win against eighth-placed Kirby Lonsdale at the weekend, would be more of a Christmas present for his wife than himself.

The Dalesmen have had a rough rid of things this Yorkshire North Premier campaign, only winning one in their 12 games played so far, which includes a current seven-match defeat streak.

Injuries have played a big part in why Ilkley find themselves in this situation as they had to field a number of youngsters in their defeat to Sandal at the weekend.

Morgan praised the impact that the young players have had on the squad and says that the recent results have caused him to become miserable at home.

He said: "I harp on about how we have lost players, but we have also had injuries.

"We are without Oli Holtam, one of leading loose forward props, Joe Lowes and Harry Harrison, who should be back this weekend.

"A few decisions are not going our way, it has just been an unlucky season.

"Everyone is in their fighting, we are not a million miles away.

"We had three 18-year olds out there on Saturday; Archie Elgood, Matty Sheard and Eddie King, who are doing a great job.

"If the boys can just muster a win at Kirkby Lonsdale, it will be a very happy Christmas.

"It will be a better present for my wife because it is fair to say I have been moping around the house.

"I think she would like a bit of cheer around the house, it will be a present for her and not for me."

Despite only being 5-3 down at the break, Ilkley were condemned to 25-3 loss against Sandal last Saturday at Stacks Field.

Morgan believes it is his side's inability to take their chances which is preventing them putting valuable points on the board as they battle for survival.

He added: "We should have had a couple of tries in the first half.

"We have spoke about it at training. I think our problem is not finishing and being clinical with our opportunities.

"Where it went wrong was that we didn’t score as many tries as them and they scored more than us, it is that simple.

"We are not turning the pressure into points, we are refreshing what we are doing to our attack too so it's easy fixes.

"They got one chance and scored because our defence was not organised enough, we need to make sure the opposition have several chances before converting a try.

"We lost a man to a yellow card then lost props through injuries, we finished the game with 13 men and they scored one of their tries late on."

ROWAN NEWMAN