Tonight Dewsbury Rams take on the Sheffield Eagles in the latest round of the Betfred Championship at the Olympic Legacy Park.
Head coach Lee Greenwood is very positive going into the game in South Yorkshire after two good performances and coming off the back of a win against Barrow last Sunday.
Looking ahead to the Sheffield fixture, Greenwood said: “We are underdogs going into it, Sheffield have spent some money and I know Mark wasn’t happy with them last year been so low in the table. They rectified that and took some good Championship players and it worked. They are not in the position they were last year, if they don’t make the playoffs I think they would be disappointed.
“Looking at it, for them to make it they need to beat us on Friday, we know its going to be hard, we felt like we should have won one game against them, but that’s been the story of our season. We need to go there and take all the good things we did against Barrow and leave all the bad things out.
“I don’t feel any pressure going into the game, we know we will be underdogs, Sheffield are above us in the table and Mark has been there a hell of a long time to sort things out. Like I have said they have recruited heavily in the off season to make sure they were well away from the bottom of the table. There is no pressure on us, all the pressure is on Sheffield to win for their season. We need to win to get away from the bottom of the table to take that threat of relegation away, so it would be nice, but regarding feeling any pressure no. We just need to perform like we have done in the last couple of games and if we do that then we’ll have a chance of winning.
“I have only been involved in one Sheffield vs Dewsbury game and it was a bit feisty at the start randomly where people were getting cards. It then settled down after that, and whilst I wouldn’t say it was a great spectacle at home it is a game we feel we should have won.
“We have a few players that have played for Sheffield before, and they have a few guys that have either been here last year or a few years before. Whenever you have that there is points to prove from both sides and if that makes it interesting then all the better.
“There is no new injuries going into the game, Joe Martin came out of the Barrow game with an ankle knock, Paul Sykes isn’t still 100% from his injury but he is a tough guy and he’s battling through it and actually playing well. Other than that I think everyone has come through with a full clean bill of health. We have got some bodies behind the scenes that want to be involved, so there is plenty of players to choose from.
“We should have won two and it is now trying to find that on a consistent basis and if we can bring that every single game then I am more than confident that we’ll win enough games to get away from where we are in the league table. That might come on Friday and I do think we can go there and give Sheffield a good game.
“Just going into this game remembering the last two fixtures doesn’t do it for you, you have to turn up with the mindset of knowing everyone turned up wanting to do the really hard stuff. The defence, the wrestle, the line speed and attack, how people work for each other, it looked a lot better at York and against Barrow because of how the lads turned up with the right attitude and motivation. That has been an issue here for a few years where we can do it for a few games and then not do it, and that has been the challenge for me and previous coaches. It hasn’t been rectified yet by me this season. We have now done two and hopefully the lads now realise why they have to turn up and do that, and if they start trusting one and other every week then its a good team to then play in and we’ll win enough games.”
