FEATHERSTONE ROVERS coach Paul Cooke handed particular praise to a forward pack spearheaded by Jimmy Beckett and in which secondrow Brad Day made a 100th club appearance as he reviewed an encouraging win over Halifax.
Reports of unacceptable behaviour and language from some spectators during the match at the Millennium Stadium have meant a headache for Rovers officials, who have been working hard to create a friendly-family feel at the ground after a serious of previous such incidents.
But in terms of Featherstone’s record on the field, taming the Panthers through a 32-16 triumph meant a fifth straight league win ahead of the visit to York tomorrow (Sunday).
Winger Gareth Gale went over twice as Featherstone forced five tries – five days after they had made hard work of beating Hunslet 26-24 at home.
Cooke felt the sluggish performance against the Leeds side was partly due to the comedown from playing at Wembley in the 1895 Cup final, which York won 5-4 in golden point.
He was far happier with the showing against Halifax, believing it came off the back of the platform laid by his pack, with Beckett, the 29-year-old who is in his second spell at the club after starting out with Featherstone Lions, putting in the hard yards.
“Jimmy played big minutes and was a big influence,” he said. “And I thought the pack as a whole were really good.
“Gadwin Springer was great off the bench, much more like his usual self, and Pat Moran and Nathan Wilde (on loan from Oldham and Featherstone respectively) made a real contribution.”
Cooke continued: “We had a blip against Hunslet, probably a bit of a post-Wembley thing, but we were much better against Halifax.
“We showed up and played it tough and strong, and defensively, while we just dipped our toe in when Jack Hansen scored (early in the second half), we were generally solid.
“Our tries came from things we had worked on in training, and to get the result we did on a five-day turnaround was great.”
Rovers have released prop Jack Arnold, 27, from his contract.