Cornwall frustrated by North Wales Crusaders defeat

Cameron Brown scored his 10th try of the season for Cornwall

Cornwall RLFC boss Mike Abbott said his side's 16-10 loss at home to North Wales Crusaders was "one that got away".

The Choughs led 10-0 shortly before half-time but their opponents struck back with three unanswered tries either side of the break.

The loss leaves Cornwall still second-from-bottom of League One with two wins from 13 games.

"I think we started really brightly and if we kept that pressure on them for a little bit longer I think they crack and we can post more points, but we didn't," Abbott told BBC Radio Cornwall.

"We took our foot off the gas a little bit and they're too good a team to do that [against] - and they worked their way back into it so credit to them."

Decarlo Trerise's try was his first for Cornwall

Top scorer Cameron Brown took just six minutes to get his 10th try of the season before Decarlo Trerise registered his first Cornwall score as the Choughs led 10-0.

But Cornwall had Nathan Cullen sin-binned for a tip tackle five minutes before half-time and, four minutes later, Oliver Davies reduced Crusaders' deficit to 10-4.

Winger Patrick Ah Van went over five minutes after the break to cut the gap to two points before Chris Barratt's try put Crusaders in the lead.

Ah Van's late penalty sealed the comeback as North Wales consolidated sixth place.

"We were nice and calm at half-time, there was no need to start screaming and shouting," added Abbott.

"They said all the right things and then we came out and never got going in that second half. We had really good field position, but we just didn't make enough of it.

"We didn't stay there long enough, we tried kick-throughs and what we probably needed to do was finish in a corner, like we'd spoke about all week, and make it hard to work out.

"It wasn't a good watch that second half."

It was another frustrating result for Abbott and his side, who now have a three-week break before their next fixture at home to Workington Town.

"I want to get away from saying 'we're building to something and we're competing', because I think as a team and a club we've got to change that conversation," Abbott added.

"We've got to start talking about 'we're a good side now, these games are winnable'.

"If we can show the grit and everything that we've shown in these other games and the little craft with the ball that we have got in our team and the players, we should start winning games.

"We've put a bit of pressure on ourselves now coming into the back end of the season, but it's warranted - they've earned the right to start talking like that I think."