CENTRE Chris Harris admitted Newcastle Falcons made hard work of Friday night’s 35-30 triumph over Sale Sharks, but believes silverware could be around the corner if they can iron the creases out of their game.
The Scotland centre was a creative force for a Newcastle side who achieved a four-try bonus point by the half-hour, letting a 25-point lead slip before winning it in the last minute
Harris joked: “It wasn’t nervewracking at all, was it?
“We had a good first half, we were pretty happy with where we were but we just went into our shells at 25-0 for some reason. We’re obviously not pleased about that but we want to kick on as a team, and we somehow found a way to win.
“We can’t afford to allow teams back into a game like that if we want to be a top-four team at the end of the season, and win semi-finals and finals. We need to be a lot better, but it’s nice to say that after a victory.”
Harris added: “Good teams win ugly, but the issue for us is we’ve been winning ugly too much.
“We can try and look at the reasons why we let teams back in, but to be honest, this close to the game, I’ve got no idea. We’ll analyse it and try to fix it, but there was just a point where we shut up shop and let them back into it. We went into our shell, and I can’t honestly say why. It wasn’t the plan – I know that much.
“That scuffle after Sale’s try where we had our captain sinbinned seemed to give them a gee-up, but it’s no excuse. We let them in too easily, we didn’t start the second half well and from there we were on the back foot. We had to scrape our way back into the game but we dug deep, we put some decent attack together towards the end and gave Bobby Vickers the platform to do what he has done many times from that range.”
Taking a wider view, Harris said: “You can say
NEWCASTLE Diamonds have fingers, toes and everything else crossed they can finally launch a new era for Newcastle Speedway tonight at Brough Park,Newcastle had been due to start their home season a fortnight ago with a clash against Berwick Bandits which fell victim of the incessant wet weather that has blighted the country.They were also due to stage the British Under-21 semi-final last weekend at Brough Park, which also had to be cancelled. So, it’s a case of hoping it’s third time lucky as the Scunthorpe Scorpions are due in town for a Championship Shield clash.This was meant to be the reverse fixture for both team’s as they were due to meet at the Eddie Wright Raceway in Scunthorpe on Friday but unfortunately the Scorpions’ track was still sodden and completely unraceable so that one had to be called off as well.After 10 years, the Diamonds are going in to this season with a new main sponsor, Cramlington-based firm Boiler Technical Services and also have on board a new co-promoter in the form of Teessider Martin Phillips.Phillips is a well-known face around the Tyneside track, being the father of Newcastle asset Danny Phillips, whose second season as a Diamond last term was cruelly cut short by a broken leg.Martin Phillips was a key part of his son’s back-up team, a job he’s had to vacate since signing on as Newcastle’s latest managerial asset.In a curious quirk of fate, Danny Phillips will be part of the Scunthorpe team who will be looking to spoil father Martin’s home promotional debut. Danny, although he signed for Newcastle in the winter, has been loaned out to the Scorpions for the 2018 season so will be returning to the Brough Park shale tonight.The dawn of the new era is long overdue and what promises to be an intriguing and exciting clash gets under way at Brough Park tonight with tapes-up at 6.30pm. Gates opening an hour earlier, at 5.30pm. AFTER a 54-36 Glasgow victory on Friday, the Berwick Bandits welcomed the Tigers to Shielfield Park with revenge on their mind.Kevin Doolan found himself in third behind Richie Worrall and Lewis Kerr, but the Berwick skipper powered up the whole race to make a massive swoop around Kerr on the third bend before exchanging the lead three times with Worrall in a sensational 3-3 race.Berwick took the lead in Heat Two as guest man Simon Lambert shot away to win in a 4-2, but a Heat Three 1-5 from a solid gate by Claus Vissing and Paul Starke over David Howe put the Tigers in the lead by two points, 8-10.It would remain nip and tuck for the rest of the night and with only one heat to go, the scoreline was 44-40 to the Bandits.The early lead went to Summers as Doolan briefly whipped up to second place only for Harris to hammer back and then take the hardest looking pass under Summers at the start of the second lap, with the 3-3 making the final score 47-43.
Chris Harris has admitted that the Falcons have been “winning ugly” too much recently