East set their sights on treble (From Leigh Journal)

East set their sights on treble

1:26pm Friday 28th May 2010 in

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LEIGH East coaching director John Fieldhouse has revealed that Saturday’s victory in the BARLA National Cup Final would be ‘mission accomplished.’

“This club has never been in the National Cup Final before and this was the main goal at the start of the season,” said the former Great Britain forward.

“We always seemed to have struggled to get to a decent level.

“It would be great to finish the mission.”

East go into the final against Queens at the Woodlands Memorial Ground, Fylde, on the crest of a wave following their stunning 37-10 National Conference Grand Final win against Siddal to claim the championship for the first time at the weekend.

It means East, having finished top of the ladder to also secure the league leader’s trophy, are still on the cards for treble glory.

Fieldhouse said that team selection is tough with 22 players all raring for action but only 17 spots available.

He indicated that players who missed out on the Grand Final could be brought in for the Queens battle.

East loose forward Gary Middlehurst bagged a hat-trick of tries in what was the largest score recorded by the winning side in nine years of NCL Grand Finals.

And Ryan Fieldhouse’s try to put East 18-0 ahead on the 20-minute mark all but sealed the fate of the former champions.

Gareth Pemberton was East’s other try scorer, with Ryan Peters kicking seven goals and a drop goal plus Daniel Kilshaw also kicking a goal in a game with 32 penalties awarded.

East: Ryan Fieldhouse; Andrew Groves, Mark Kay, Gareth Pemberton, Kevin Murphy; Ryan Peters, Daniel Kilshaw; Craig Wingfield, John Taylor, Lee Rowley, Craig Millington, Carl Mort, Gary Middlehurst. Subs; Gavin Hunter, Simon Stevens, Brett Longstaff, John Walker.