Doncaster RLFC head coach Horne admits Midlands Hurricanes thumping came as a shock

Former Dons’ favourite Liam Welham played a starring role in Hurricanes’ win with a two-try display, which hammered the final nail into the South Yorkshire club’s title hopes.

“We’ve been guilty of only playing for the first 40 minutes or so in games and I think we played for the full 80 today which we know that we can,” he said.

“We knew that we would have to play well to beat Doncaster and we did and hopefully we can finish the season on a bit of a high to reward those who have stuck by us.

“It was great coming back to Doncaster. It’s like a second home for me and that’s why I spent 20 minutes talking to the fans after the game before getting changed.

"They were always good to me when I played here.”

Dons head coach Richard Horne must now lift his charges ahead of Sunday’s game at Workington, who climbed above them into third.

“We don’t suddenly become a bad team after two defeats and I certainly didn’t see that coming,” he said. “We spoke about producing a response to the Hunslet defeat and for us to roll out a performance like that isn’t good enough.

“We didn’t underestimate them because they had lost at Cornwall the previous week. They were a different team having brought in some good dual-reg players and they made a difference. They played well and showed us how to play the conditions,

“It wasn’t ideal having a three-week break, but I’m not going to use that as an excuse because other clubs have experienced something similar.

“We’d trained really well during the break and the boys were feeling refreshed and we picked what looked a very good side on paper, but we were flat on the day. I think they maybe had ten good ball sets to our one.

“Unlike some other games where we’ve come from behind at half-time, I wasn’t that confident that we’d (overturn their 19-6 lead) do that because we weren’t creating opportunities. We’ve got players who can come up with something but we weren’t able to find the passes we needed to do in the conditions.”

Horne is hoping that second-rower Brett Ferres escapes a ban after being sent-off.

“I don’t think there was too much intent in the tackle and I don’t think he’ll have a case to answer,” he said.