Dewsbury Rams head coach Lee Greenwood was delighted with his teams victory over Thatto Heath Crusaders in the fifth round of the Challenge Cup on Sunday.
The conference side gave the Rams a good game particularly in the first half, however it is the Rams who progress to the next round and Greenwood was overall happy with the display.
He said: “I think we did well in the second half, it was never going to be easy coming here, Thatto are a good team. We needed to work hard to make it comfortable in the end. I would have liked us to bring that in the first half to make it a game where for 60-65 minutes we could just enjoy ourselves, but fair play to Thatto.
“We scored early from one or two of their mistakes, they deservedly went in level at half time, we needed to ramp it up in the second half and I thought we did that and came away with the win.
“We probably weren’t direct enough in the first half, and tried to play too much, where as in the second half we were more direct and played a little bit too quick for Thatto in the middle. We scored a few early tires in the second half and then took the game away from them.
“When you come to an amateur ground some people aren’t used to it, there aren’t any stands, there are small changing rooms, and you walk up little banking’s with a load of kids giving you a load of lip so it’s all a bit different. We weren’t quite at it 100%, we had a word with them at half time and they stepped it up a gear. In a way winning was all that mattered and getting through to the next round.
“We worked with Thatto Heath to get the game on here and it’s been a good day for the club with a big crowd watching and we have got through so everyone is happy.”
The game took a turn for the worst as Thatto Heath player Ben Heyes and Dewsbury Rams player Cam Leeming were taken off of the field after a bad collision. Thankfully both players were awake and talking after the game and were receiving treatment for their injuries.
Greenwood commented: “It looked innocent, there wasn’t any foul play in there, it is never nice to see such a long stoppage. Cam is going to go to hospital to get checked over, I don’t know much at the moment about how their guy is. I also understand a supporter fell ill and had to be taken to hospital. It’s sad how the game ended because up until then it had been a terrific game played in good spirits and it had been a good day for Thatto.”
The club can report that Cam Leeming is now recuperating at home.
Credit- Photo taken by freelance photographer Peter Smith.
