Head Coach Neil Kelly spoke to the media following the Rams 40-7 victory over Swinton Lions last Sunday.
Kelly was delighted with the victory and whilst he reflected heavily on the win, his attention now turns to the game coming up this weekend away at Batley.
Kelly said on the Swinton victory: “We gave ourselves a bit of fright by halftime, we got fooled too much by getting too involved with their arm wrestle, and tactics. I was very keen for us not to become a victim of that over the 80 minutes. We had a chat about it at halftime and re-directed ourselves.
“I just think we paid them too much respect early on in the game and became victims of their tactics. I accused the side of being too nice about it, and being fine playing into those tactics. I wanted us to fight to play those quick balls and step up the tempo of the game. Whilst ever we were going to play at their tempo we knew we were going to be in a match.
“So I said at halftime that we wanted to play at our tempo and I wanted us to show determination to get onto the ball and then show determination in defence too. If you nil a side in defence, it’s a tall order against any team but we did that in the second half by winning 34-0.
“All those stats show that it was a good performance especially in the second half, I just thought we made it hard for ourselves in the first half.
“We played with a lot more determination in the second half, we played with pace and defended for our lives as if our lives depended on it. The players did that, I thought in the first half we were doing some good things. However you could see that when we had them on the ropes we then would come up with an error or mistake in defence. That then allowed them a foothold in the game, but in the second half we cut those errors and mistakes out.”
Dewsbury scored seven tries during the game with seven different try scorers, the team could have had more if they had taken some of those other chances. However the clinical nature of the team pleased the head coach, who wants to see that same clinical edge taken into the upcoming games.
He commented: “It’s nice to explore that clinical nature we had in the second half, I would love to explore it in the Batley game coming up next weekend. I think we are only one point behind them now in the league.
“I’d love to say the tries were all because of great team work, they were all made through the team, but like for Josh Guzdek’s try it was purely down to his determination to get over the line. I’m not too bothered who scores the tries to be honest, as long as we are scoring them that’s all that matters.
The Rams are sat fourth in the Championship Shield table, only a point behind Batley, and the win over Swinton means that Dewsbury are now seven points clear of the Lions who are currently sat in the relegation places.
Kelly continued: “Mathematically we are still not out of trouble, however the win over Swinton means that we aren’t looking over our shoulders as much. Getting the win doesn’t mean we can go into the next few games taking it easy and lose. However it does mean that we can now relax and enjoy our football and try and go and get a few more wins to move up the table.
“There is very little to choose between ourselves and Batley, in both on the pitch and in the league table, so it will be an intriguing game.”
