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Kelly reflects on Batley defeat

Dewsbury Rams head coach Neil Kelly was disappointed with the lackluster display his side showed in the final Heavy Woollen derby of the season.

The Rams were defeated 42-22 at Mount Pleasant, and Kelly spoke to the media following the game, he said: “Overall i’m disappointed, I thought we were lackluster and it just looked like we were going through the motions, that’s why we went ten/twelve points down.

“We rallied a bit in the second half, but I didn’t think we were playing that well in the first half when we were scoring points. If you play in the second half as we did without the ball and your discipline lets you down, you’re going to get your backside spanked.

“The talk at halftime was all about why we weren’t doing the things I wanted us to do, it was a funny game really, because we were 22-12 points up at halftime. I didn’t think we played that well to get to the 22 points.

“The nature of the game when you play at Batley is that when you get in at halftime and talk about the things you could improve on going into the second half, they aren’t necessarily going to be relevant because you are playing downhill.

“We talked about completing the sets, getting behind with a good kicking game, defending resolutely up the field and restricting their yard gains. We wanted to make the clock our best friend, but when you are giving penalties away late in the tackle count and some players don’t make the tackles that they should do then obviously you aren’t going to come out on top.” Kelly commented.

He continued: “At times we defended superbly well, and that isn’t lost on me in this game, but when you ask yourself to do that constantly for 40 minutes, there are cracks bound to appear after a while through fatigue if nothing else. Some players really turned up for us today, and others haven’t.”

Looking ahead, Kelly insists he isn’t worried about Swinton or any other club, and his sole focus is on Dewsbury and our league position.

He said: “I am not worried about Swinton, I am just focused on our position whether that be 7th, 8th or 9th. I am not really concerned what has happened at Swinton, Rochdale or Barrow. I just want us to get as many points as possible to finish as high as possible in the league table.”