PRAISE FOR PARKER AS HE LEAVES WHITEHAVEN FOR HOME

Jessie Joe Parker headed out of the Recreation Ground a winner after Whitehaven last night claimed a fourth success in their last five outings with a 16-15 victory over Dewsbury.The Papua New Guinea international departed with the praise of coach Dave Woods and Haven fans ringing in his ears.

He led out the team against the Rams, in recognition of his efforts this term, including his 20-try haul in 25 games, and fans stayed behind after the final whistle to chant his name.

“Jessie was very good again tonight,” Woods said. “He’s a quality player and gets better and better every time he plays for us.

Jessie Joe Parker is bein congratulated . News&Star Photo

“Hopefully, everything will be all right when he gets home and we will see him again next year. We only mentioned it once before the game and said, let’s send him home a winner. He wanted to make sure we won the game and was really trying hard.”

Parker was labelled a legend on Twitter post-game by official man of the match Rhys Clarke. He returns to PNG at the weekend to deal with a family issue and will miss the last five games of the regular season and any play-off action.

Woods labelled Haven’s display as poor and said they were devoid of ideas in Dewsbury’s final 30/40m.

“The guts they showed to win the game was great, and you have to give them plenty of credit for that, but we made it tough for ourselves,” he added.

“We need to make it easier than that. After we trained on Tuesday I thought we would win well tonight. It wasn’t to be, but it was three points and we will take it.”

Dewsbury, four points adrift, could now struggle to overtake Haven in the race for sixth place and a home game in the play-offs while Workington Town are seven points behind with three games in hand.

News and Star