Anderson slams 'ugly' win

Saints coach blasts both sides' performances

Last updated: 17th May 2008

Anderson slams 'ugly' win

Anderson: Angry

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St Helens coach labelled his side's victory over Catalans Dragons on Saturday night as 'ugly', as they moved above the French side into second in Super League.

Saints avenged a defeat in Perpignan earlier in the season with a 28-10 success at Knowsley Road that started brightly but ended with an ordinary display from the hosts.

Chris Flannery, Keiron Cunningham, James Graham, Ade Gardner and Leon Pryce all scored tries but the match was not won until late on after the Dragons had Clint Greenshields sent to the sin-bin.

Anderson was not pleased at all with the performance, saying they only just about bettered Catalans' display, which he labelled as 'terrible.'

"It was ugly," admitted Anderson. "I think mediocre is overstating it. We were poor and they were terrible.

"We've been in some games that have been a great advertisement for rugby league but that wasn't one of them.

"We trained fantastic this week and gave every indication that we were going to produce a crisp, energetic performance. Maybe the emotion of last week's Challenge Cup took a lot out of us.

"But we got the points and move into second so we get on with next week."

Potter problem

The match also saw Anderson's replacement for next season, Mick Potter, in the visiting Knowsley Road dugout for possibly the last time with his current Dragons side.

The visitors did manage to improve in the second half after an awful first 40 minutes, but Potter says the yellow card was the turning point.

"The sin-binning didn't help," said Potter. "I thought we played okay football in patches.

"Going 16-0 down makes it a pretty tough ask against a team like that. When they get on a roll, they are tough to stop."

Potter did comment on the strength of squad he will inherit as new Saints boss next season, but insisted he never wavered from his current job as Dragons coach.

"It didn't cross my mind," he said. "My focus for the 80 minutes was on getting Catalans to do their best and try to win the game.

"They've certainly got some quality personnel."