Knights' boss calls for consistency
LYNN Howells hopes it won't be a case of 'after the Lord Mayor's Show' when he takes his rejuvenated Knights team to face London Welsh on Saturday.
Dogged Doncaster produced a superb display to defeat newly relegated Bristol 26-22 at the weekend.
But the Castle Park club has been plagued by consistency problems in recent years.
And Howells says he hopes to address that with another big performance at Welsh's Old Deer Park.
He said: "Ever since I've been at the club it's been a huge problem.
"When we get a good result, like we did on Saturday, we need to follow that up with an even bigger performance and build on it.
"We beat Leeds last season and then lost to Coventry the following week.
"It's about keeping the standards up - and the players know that.
"London Welsh haven't lost at home and we've not won there while I've been in charge.
"But no-one gave us a chance against Bristol so you just never know."
He added: "We've raised the bar over the last couple of weeks but there's still a long way to go.
"We're moving in the right direction.
"It's down to hard work that we've managed to turn things around.
"There's a great spirit in the camp and the boys are very close.
"That certainly helps.
"But we've got a couple of tough weeks ahead of us and, as much as it was a good result against Bristol, we're still not where we want to be in terms of performance."
Bristol arrived in Doncaster having lost only once since being relegated from the Guinness Premiership - and quickly went ahead through a Ross Johnson try and an Adrian Jarvis penalty.
But the Knights, who won for the first time in seven Championship games when they beat Plymouth the previous week, came storming back as Ali Warnock kicked a penalty and then converted his own try.
Jarvis went on to add three more penalties for the visitors and Dan Norton ensured a tense finish with a late Bristol score.
But a Chris Hallam try and drop goal, and another drop goal by Steve McColl, gave Doncaster a memorable win.
Howells said: "I didn't think that Bristol gave us the respect we deserved and that made the result even sweeter.
"It was the first time in 18 months we'd kept the penalty count down to single figures and that made a huge difference.
"Our defence and discipline were the key to victory."
Club captain Anthony Carter, Dougie Flockhart, Tom Davies, Glen Kenworthy, Chris Planchant and Neil Cochrane could all return to the squad on Saturday as Knights' horrendous injury problems finally show signs of easing.
However, they are more likely to feature in Monday night's 'A' game as Howells keeps faith with the men who beat Bristol.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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