Some encouragement that we managed to win by a decent margin in the end.
The vital games are the ones against the teams in and around us, or more specifically the games against N Wales, Keighley, Rochdale, Swinton, Hunslet and Oldham. So far, we've played four and won one, of which three were at home.
Our other four wins have come against the also rans in the bottom four places.
In the games against the better sides we've scored 44 and conceded 148, giving a points difference of minus 104 points.
Today's win was important and should build confidence but needs to be seen in context. The fact that we've been comprehensively beaten by the better sides says we need to improve significantly to reach their level.
Fundamentally, as I see it, we're capable of running in plenty of points against teams when our forwards don't get out-muscled but when the forwards lose the battle up front we struggle.
We were slightly second best in the forwards against Oldham but with good discipline and very good game management we were able to get the win but even in that game had Oldham taken their chances it could have got away from us. In the games against Keighley, Swinton and N Wales our pack was well beaten and the scorelines reflected that.
We're very much missing the likes of Zac Braham, Brandan Douglas and Liam Johnson. With those three in the team, I'd be more confident we might get competitive against the best, but as things stand the points difference of minus 104 keeps hitting me in the face.
The game at Rochdale next week and the home game against Hunslet will be vital in giving clues as to whether we can get this season back on track. If we win those, the next step will be to raise our game to the level of Swinton, Keighley and N Wales. Should we lose against Rochdale and Hunslet, we'll be faced with the tag of being a mid-table team that is extremely unlikely to get promoted.
A couple of vital games lie ahead...
Obviously a good second half and it will be interesting to hear from RH what was said during the interval. Twitter feed read well and the tackling was much better second half it appears.
