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Thornton Praises Win At All Costs Attitude


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Head coach Gary Thornton was thrilled with his side's late victory on Sunday at the Keepmoat Stadium.

The Dons fought back from 12 points down late on to secure a dramatic victory over Keighley Cougars.

Thornton admitted the result was a big weight off his side's shoulders, with the Dons now four points clear of Keighley in the table.

"The win is a massive relief, I don't think we were at our best today and fair play to Keighley who came and had a real dig at us," he said.

"We started the game superbly well and we were probably guilty of taking our foot off the pedal a little bit and let Keighley into the game too much I felt.

"We have not trained together much as a team this week, we were forced into some late changes, we trained expecting Mason Tonks to play and he failed his return to play protocol so we had to do some shuffling about on Saturday.

"I thought we'd blown it, we were poor in attack in the first 20 minutes of the second half, we didn't show any great creativity and looked off the pace in our execution.

"Fair play to the lads though, they could see Keighley tiring, we got a couple of penalties and the call was to play really fast on them to try and catch them going backwards and that is what we did.

"When Mark Castle got the try it gave us a real ascendancy and we were on the front foot from there on in.

"We just needed to crack them and once we did that, we were able to finish the game really strongly.

"Our fitness showed through, I'm disappointed with a lot of elements of our game, but delighted with the win, at this stage of the season it is win at all costs and we have done that today.

"With us being amongst the eight best teams remaining now, the games are always going to be a lot closer than some of the league matches, where a lot can have blowout scores.

"This is what we want, we want good competitive games at this level and barring the Barrow game I think they have been pretty competitive.

"I don't think the blowout scores do anybody any favours, this is what the fans want to come and see, good, hard, competitive games like we have had today."

Thornton was also full of praise for Tom Carr, Louis Sheriff and Jordie Hedges who all contributed to the victory in a big way.

"Tom has been absolutely fantastic all year, he can certainly kick a ball can the lad.

"I think his kicking success percentage is up around the 90% mark this season, when you know you have a goal kicker of that calibre in the team, you know you always have a chance because it turns your four points into six points more often than not.

"We were looking at a one pointer, but as soon as we had anything in kicking range for Tom available we would take it.

"Louis has come to the club this year and he has been fantastic for us.

"I've played him out of position out wide on the wing for most of the year, but he hasn't moaned, he's just got on with it.

"That is the beauty of having a player like Louis, he can play in a number of positions, his favourite position is full-back, but when Tom is playing so well there, it is difficult for me to fit him in there.

"He always fits in our 17 somewhere, he has been asking for a while to go in the middle units, so it was our opportunity to do that today with Matty Welham available from the bench.

"Louis went in there and was terrific, he worked his socks off both with the ball and without.

"It is great for Jordie to get the late try in his first game back, I know his parents were very disappointed at being over here and him missing three matches.

"It is fantastic for him, I have been asking him to run at the line a little bit more all season and that shows what he can do when he does that.

"In the dying minutes of a game, when you want someone to take control and show some real leadership qualities, I thought he did that by going for the line and scoring."



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