Dewsbury Rams head coach Neil Kelly has offered his comments following Sunday’s defeat to Featherstone Rovers.
Despite leading during the first half, and trailing by only four at the break, the Rams eventually fell away against the top four challengers.
“I thought we showed some good touches in the first half and some of the plays we did in the first half, that we had practised on the training ground, came off for us,” he said.
“That is how we scored our points and I was pleased at half time, because we were doing things that were making us competitive.
“But we are in a tough run of fixtures at the moment, playing teams like Toulouse and Featherstone, and we are learning when we play these teams.
“One thing we are learning is to control the pace of the opposition’s game.
“We tried to do that against Featherstone and at times we were successful, but you need to be fit enough to do it for 80 minutes, not just 40 or 50 minutes.
“We are going to persevere with that as a club, because I feel that’s the right way to be, and hopefully when we come to places like Featherstone, either later on in the season or next year, we will be competitive for longer.”
Following an even contest in the first 40, Featherstone posted six unanswered tries, which were all converted, and Kelly was quick to acknowledge the victors’ performance.
“I can’t take anything away from Featherstone. In the second half they were an irresistible force.
“However we contributed to their score, because when you tire you give away penalties, and you don’t complete your sets.
“That in turn gives the opposition more time to find space and play the ball.
“One of the things we need to work on is our game management and decision making, because sometimes we contributed to giving them field position.
“We’ll learn the lessons from this and do the things we need to do to be competitive for longer.
“You can see there is a good side in there from the first half performance, and we’d like to think we are in that cluster of clubs who aren’t quite in the top four, but who aren’t in the bottom four.
“We have had a tough run of fixtures and we just have to come out of the other side,” Kelly added.
“We need to still be thinking positively and doing positive things.
“For now, I just have to manage this side and take the positives from the Featherstone result.”
