Dewsbury Rams head coach Lee Greenwood is looking forward to seeing his team take on amateur club West Hull in the Challenge Cup. He also believes it is a good chance for the Rams to keep up that winning momentum after the victory over Featherstone Rovers last Sunday.
On the fixture over West Hull, Greenwood said: “I am looking forward to the fixture, it is a week off from the grind of trying to pick up some league points so there is that too. It is a different competition that we want to do well in. There is already a lot of fixtures in the calendar this year, but it would be nice to progress and draw a Super League team at home.
“Then we have the 1895 cup coming into action as well so yes we do want to do well in these cup competitions. Looking at the draw and the West Hull game we possibly got one of the more favorable draws, but that doesn’t mean it will be easy. Looking at some of the ties we could have got we could have quite easily drawn anyone in our division or league one home or away, so we’ve done ok drawing West Hull, it’s one of the easier games we could have got on paper.
“West Hull will provide a real challenge, they are unbeaten so far this year and have already gone through a few rounds in this cup. The team is full of people who have either played in the pro game or could have a very bright future within it. You look at amateur clubs and sometimes think that if you get them on a dry pitch you might catch them out with some guys that are not having people up to scratch or some people being out of shape, that is certainly not the case with West Hull, they have lads who look after themselves. They are not a typical amatuer side where they’ll not just rip your head off, they’ll try to play. They will try to make it old school and show us what they are all about.
“On the flip side of it I know what it’s like to coach on their side of things, in these types of games they have nothing to lose, it’s a day out and you usually get your best away following with all the families coming to see them play at a pro ground.
“We want to get on a run really if we can, it’s difficult but it would be good to chalk up a few wins in a row, we got a good win at the weekend, and we should be full of confidence and belief in each other that goes for everyone, staff and players, and like you say it would be nice to get a win going into the Bradford game.
“It’s the Challenge Cup and of course you want to perform well but it’s the result that matters most, and whilst the game goes on, the longer it’s a tight scoreline the more the favourite’s get nervy and that’s the reversal of what it was like for us against Toronto. We just need to look after ourselves and each player that goes out there will have their own target’s and standards.”
On whether there will be a lot of changes to the side that won at Featherstone, Greenwood said no.
He said: “There won’t be too many changes no, we have got a few injuries anyway but actually by choice there won’t be many. We certainly aren’t taking them lightly, we are treating the game as if we were playing against a Championship team. We are doing a bit of video work on them, working on where we can catch them out and where they can hurt us, we know a bit about them anyway with myself and Gareth playing and coaching against them before. There are places up for grabs with whoever plays in this one to play in the week after.
“There are no long term injuries to report, there are a few guys not able to play in this one but they should be fine for Bradford. It didn’t matter who we played this week some lads wouldn’t have been ready, we have played a tough run of fixtures, we have to manage them best we can because we are in all the competitions and we are trying to be competitive in every game we play.”
