Unlikely hero Andy Precious earned York Wasps their first points of the season - then described his match-winning field goal as his "worst ever."
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His 40 metre kick with 10 seconds left on the clock clinched a thrilling 16-15 victory over Sheffield Eagles yesterday.
But he admitted he was just glad to see it creep over the bar. "I'd told Pally (Alan Pallister) to give me the ball so I could go for the drop and it just flapped over. It was probably the worst drop goal I've ever scored!
"But it was nice to go out with a bang," said Precious, who is ruled out for the next six weeks through work commitments.
It capped a dramatic win for the Wasps after a nail-biting 80 minutes which kept the Huntington Stadium crowd on the edge of their seats.
Former Wasp John Strange looked to have clinched it for Sheffield with a field goal five minutes from time. But first Mark Cain and then Precious popped up with one-pointers of their own to nick it for the Wasps.
It was a game coach Dean Robinson had branded "must-win" after defeats by Doncaster and Keighley and Precious said: "With the pressure that's been on us we needed to win this game. It's taken a lot of pressure off our shoulders and hopefully we can springboard from here."
There was a surprise full debut for triallist Carl Paterson as he took flu victim Leroy McKenzie's place on the right wing.
And the Selby rugby union ace produced an assured display which will go a long way towards earning himself a contract when his trial period runs out at the end of the month.
As well as kicking three goals, he looked confident facing high kicks and ran well, despite some pre-match nerves.
Paterson recalled: "I was nervous about half past ten this morning. I was so relaxed in the dressing rooms but then the buzzer went and the ref called the teams out and I started to panic. But when I got out there I felt alright.
"I was out goalkicking before the game and didn't kick one so that was the only pressure I felt. I knew I had to perform reasonably well."
Of the game itself, he added: "I was confident up until they kicked the drop goal then I thought we were done but credit to us we've kept going and done them."
Coach Robinson heaped praise on Paterson for grabbing his chance. He said: "He's come into the starting line-up because of injuries and the virus and the way he's played he's earned a shirt.
"He played with confidence and maturity. Regardless of who comes back, any player who goes out and grabs the game by the scruff of the neck will get a shirt and Carl will be in his next week."
Robinson was pleased with the result, particularly as 'flu had forced McKenzie, Paul Darley and Kevin Gray onto the sidelines while Chris Judge, Mick Hagan and Andrew Lambert played through it.
However, it took a half-time roasting to get them back on track, as he explained: "We're capable of much more than we showed today but the week's preparation has been severely disrupted with injuries and illness.
"I was very disappointed with the first half performance. We didn't show the aggression and will to win that I wanted and I made it clear what I thought at half-time. The second half was a much better performance. We've got the result and can build on it from now. We've got players coming back and hopefully we can go to Hunslet next week with some confidence.
"There's a lot to improve on. For one I'm not happy with the way the half-backs functioned and they'll be the first to admit they're not happy either.
"We'll have to improve dramatically to get two points at Hunslet but we've got that in us."
He was pleased to see Craig Booth and Gareth Dobson back in York shirts but admitted he had been forced to tell Booth a bit of a lie before the game. "I promised Craig he would only have to do 20 minutes but he did 60. I lied, but that's the name of the game."
Regarding the build-up to the last-gasp field goal, Robinson commented: "I was probably the calmest man in the ground. I knew there was only time for one more set of six so the instruction went out that regardless of where we finished up we had to go for the drop goal.
"I was delighted with the way we worked 60 metres to the posts and Andy Precious was very cool with the kick. That last set of six was textbook stuff and they deserve winning pay."
Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.
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