Dewsbury Rams head coach Lee Greenwood has given his thoughts following the Rams victory over Halifax on Tuesday night.
On the win he said: “Obviously we are very happy to get the win here. We were underdogs for a lot of people coming here and we’ve proved them wrong.
“We have spoken a lot about the change in attitude around the squad, and the only way to show that publicly is on the pitch. We would have 100% lost that game last year after going behind after half time.
“There is a different character around this team. Some of the performances out there in those conditions were outstanding. People like Joe Martin who looked controlled and did well to mop up the kicks they were producing.
“It’s a much needed win to boost confidence for the lads going forward.
“There were some unbelievable performances out there and that worked together with us as a unit.
“We struggled a little after half time as both teams re-shuffled to deal with the red cards. It took us a little bit to get going but once we did we got into it again. I thought we were good value in the game and rattled Halifax and that’s why the penalty count was what it was.
‘That’s how we like to play it by frustrating these teams. There is a lot of positives to take and a lot of huge efforts from every single one of them.
“That’s what it takes to win at these places, plus a bit of luck and some big plays. Halifax were in a very similar position a few weeks back by winning on the buzzer against Sheffield. They were producing plays to try and do it again but we defended well and hung in there to keep a much deserved victory.”
On speaking to the team at half time, Greenwood understood that it had got a bit heated going into the break. However this wasn’t the time for shouting and instead used the interval to the Rams advantage by using the time correctly by getting back to talking about tactics.
He said: “It’s difficult because you don’t want to shout at your team at the begining of games or at half time. I’d rather talk to them tactically. I dare say there was a bit of shouting in the other changing room which sparked them into life. To be fair Halifax did look better in that ten minute spell and we weren’t quite ready for them stepping it up. I thought once we got it back into an arm wrestle it was two even teams to be honest.
“I thought our discipline was fantastic in the first half. You can only go off of the penalty count and the referees. I thought there was a lot of Halifax trying to win penalties off of us and the ref saw that and was doing a really good job. I don’t know what really went on with Dom (Speakman), there was a set too and then two red cards, it got spicy for a few minutes when for the previous 39 minutes it hadn’t really.
“There were some huge efforts from people you may not have noticed either. It’s not a bad Fax team with some good players in it. I thought we more than matched them and deserved the victory.”
The next game for the Rams is a trip up to Cumbria to play Whitehaven in the Challenge Cup. Greenwood says that some other faces could be in the running to play on Sunday from the squad.
He said: “There will be some lads playing we haven’t seen much of yet, we haven’t got the biggest squad but I want to see everyone putting their hand up to play.
“The lads who have played against Halifax did that, but there are other lads who are chomping at the bit and training well, we’ll see who needs to come in.
“The 1895 Cup and Challenge Cup aren’t our main priority. That is to do as well as we can in the league and get as many points as possible as quickly as possible to secure our place in the Championship. However we of course want to go up to Cumbria looking to win the game.”
