Dewsbury Rams head coach Neil Kelly was delighted after the win against Barrow Raiders on Sunday afternoon.
The Rams defeated the Raiders 22-20 on the day, and Kelly had this to say on the performance: “After last week’s disappointing defeat to Swinton, we were flirting with dropping into the bottom two, so the game against Barrow was all about the result.
“It was never going to be an attractive game, but it was all about getting more points than Barrow. We dug deep and whilst not perfect regarding our game management when in front I think when you score four tries to two on the day, you are good value for the win.
“You enjoy it when you see people putting the ball down to score, but there are things to look at such as our game management. When you get your noses in front, we were still trying to win the game and we need to recognize that we’re either winning at that point or have already won it. We don’t have to do anything that can reverse that situation.
“The lads put everything into the game, I am only talking about re-directing that effort, I am really pleased with the effort the players are putting in to it. Now it gives us a challenge to go to Sheffield next week and add to the win we have got against Barrow.
“I think we got suckered into Barrow slowing the game down too much in the first half and the referee failed to take some action in that respect. However I was a little bit disappointed with the urgency and tempo we were playing at and that’s what we improved on in the second half. This team can play at a quicker tempo than what they were showing recently and do that for longer periods.
“I was disappointed with the penalty count against, it wasn’t down to one thing really, it was a myriad of different things. We have got to go away and look at it, I don’t want our ill-discipline to be the reason we get closer to the heart of the fire as it were.
“The win has reinstated the three point gap we have between ourselves and Swinton which is good. Now if we do the right things at Sheffield next week we’ll be looking to finish 8th rather than looking over our shoulder. It’s a fine line we have created ourselves but we have to keep that fire burning below us.”
The Rams new acquisition Adam Ryder got his first run out in a Dewsbury shirt on Sunday, and head coach Neil Kelly was pleased with his overall contribution to the win.
Kelly commented: “I thought he showed enough that he can be a valuable acquisition for us, I have had no competition to speak about in the centres. I’ve had convert Lucas Walshaw into a centre to create that competition.
“I thought Lucas played really well, it was one of his better games this season. I thought overall the centres played really well, which included Adam, who did what he needed to do and showed us a few glimpses of what we can expect from him.
“He was a player I was looking at anyway to bring in, but because the situation at Keighley has happened how it has, it means we’ve been able to bring him in this year which has been beneficial to us in this years campaign.”
