STILL on a high after watching his beloved Sedgley Park gain promotion to National One after Saturday's 27-17 win over Doncaster, Tigers' president Geoff Roberts said: "I've just about come down off the ceiling!" writes Peter Collins

"We played some scintillating rugby, but it was a very tense game and I didn't didn't really appreciate how well we played until I watched the game tape.

"We scored a beautifully crafted try in the final minute, it went through so many pairs of hands and it was the one that rounded off the game perfectly, making sure we got the win we deserved and needed to make sure we got promoted

"It's been a fantastic season, not only for the players and supporters, but also for everyone who puts so much time, effort and commitment into the club behind the scenes.

"It's a full time job for a few of us and so it's nice to bear the fruits at the end of all the hard work."

But his ambition doesn't stop there.

Not only does he want to win the club's remaining league fixture - away to Rugby Lions on Saturday April 24, where victory will guarantee Sedgley go up as champions ahead of Nottingham - he also wants to win the Lancashire Cup.

"If we can do that then I'll be happy, because our season isn't over just yet."

Saturday's win elevates the Whitefield outfit to Manchester's second most senior club, with only the Zurich Premiership's Sale Sharks ahead of them the the local pecking order.

The Tigers are now ranked the third best team in Lancashire and the North West, and they will face the club ahead of them - Orrell - next season in National One.

And being in National One - the level directly below Sale - puts the Tigers in the country's top 26, from over 1,200 nationally.

All of which puts the Tigers' achievement into some kind of context, which Roberts is only too quick to clarify: "We're talking two promotions and one Lancashire Cup in four years," he said.

"My mind goes back to the Moseley game at Park Lane in January," he said.

"We'd won 14 of our 16 games at that point and we were looking to get back to winning ways after losing at Wharfdale the previous week.

"Well, we played badly and got beat, and after the game I had a bottle of champagne to give to the man-of-the-match and couldn't choose one, so in the end I kept it on ice until Saturday.

"The following week we lost again to our closest rivals Nottingham, and things were beginning to get decidedly hairy.

"One of the most difficult things in sport is to get back on track when you've had a wobble, and that's just what Tim Fourie has done, so I gave him that bottle of champagne after Saturday's game, because he's turned things around and won us promotion."