PAUL COOKE was quick to praise Caleb Aekins after the fullback’s star turn in Featherstone Rovers’ 1895 Cup semi-final win over Oldham.
The Rovers boss said: “I thought he was magnificent, the best player on the field by a mile for me. And he has been probably our best player throughout the season.
“And Ryan Hampshire continually put the ball in the right areas. I know we’re not really throwing it around, but we needed to build our way into this game.
“We’re a tight-knit group and we’re going about our business. We’ll be respectful of each other and everybody else, and hopefully we can go on a run of games where we don’t lose.”
Former Featherstone coach Sean Long said of his defeated Oldham: “Lapses in concentration let us down at times. Some moments in the game we did handle very well.
“Full credit to Featherstone though, I thought they were very good. I think best team won.
“We were 18-0 down at half-time and I said ‘you’ve got to be brave here’. We came out and did exactly that. We put them in the washing machine for a little bit, we scored a try and I thought we were on it.
“But then we went down and dropped the ball over the line. They went down the other end and scored. We’ll learn from it and we’ll get better.”
