George Ford praised his team-mates for the "resilience" shown in the dying stages of the loss to Harlequins in Round 21 of this season's Gallagher Premiership after a last-gasp try secured a "vital" losing bonus-point.
The Tigers fly-half once again played a starring role for the East Midlands club, as he has done throughout the 2018/19 campaign, scoring 14 of Leicester's 19 points, and received 24% of the vote to be crowned LeoVegas Fans' Favourite at The Stoop.
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— Leicester Tigers (@LeicesterTigers) May 3, 2019
George Ford received 24% of the vote to beat out Ellis Genge (15%) and Sam Aspland-Robinson (13%) to be voted LeoVegas Fans’ Favourite for Round 21 for his performance in tonight’s away fixture in Twickenham against Harlequins. pic.twitter.com/mOkkHzcdp1
Ford kicked four first half penalties to see the Tigers take a lead in to the half time break and brought up 200 Premiership points for the season in the opening forty minutes, making him the first player in the competition to reach the double tonne this season.
Speaking after the match, Ford said: "I'm not happy, no, we came here to win."
"I'm grateful for the supporters vote and it was great for us to see so many Tigers fans in the crowd here in Twickenham tonight - the support we've received all season, home and away, has been really inspiring and it hasn't been easy for them with results not going the way we'd have hoped."
"We didn't deliver the victory we came here to get this evening, but the lads showed some great resilience to keep fighting right up until the end tonight and that point could prove vital for us with how tight the competition is this season."
Ford will face his former club Bath in the final fixture of the season on Saturday, May 18 when the long-time rivals of Tigers arrive at Welford Road and international is confident he and his team-mates can finish what he admits has been a "disappointing" campaign on a high at home.
"We got out to win every single game and that will be the goal when we host Bath in two weeks at Welford Road," said Ford.
"This year has been disappointing, we're not hiding from that and we're not here celebrating a losing bonus-point tonight as some have suggested - we just know the importance of it and are confident that the improvements we made tonight, against a top four side, and those we've made in recent weeks will continue to add up and help us in the last game of the year."
