Hindsight not such a wonderful thing for Crusaders

North Wales coach Mike Grady was left cursing a missed penalty opportunity as they were held to a 24-24 draw by London Skolars in their League One opener.

Crusaders decided not to go for goal from a decent position when they held a narrow 24-22 lead, and it proved costly as they coughed up possession and allowed the capital side back in to the game.

Skolars eventually converted a penalty of their own in the 79th minute to rescue a point.

Grady said: “I didn’t think the two points would make a difference. I thought if we complete our set, if we didn’t score we would at least finish down there.

“That wasn’t to be. We gave the ball away, we let the Skolars score a long range try which again is not acceptable.

“In hindsight, we should have gone for the two, but we should have been finishing that set down there anyway.

“I suppose we got a point out of it; whether we deserved the point, I don’t know.”

North Wales face a tricky trip to Workington in their next League One game on Sunday week.

Before that, they host Keighley Cougars in the third round of the Challenge Cup this weekend.