SHEFFIELD EAGLES coach Craig Lingard has called on his players to expand the periods of their clash with Dewsbury in which they “nailed the detail”.
The South Yorkshire side, which has been tasked with making the top six by their coach, were 42-30 winners at the MEPS International Home Of Football Stadium, where they were playing for the third time after switching from the Steel City Stadium.
A second straight victory after Whitehaven were defeated 50-14 at Dronfield, just over the border from Sheffield into Derbyshire, was a boost for former Batley and Castleford chief Lingard.
And while there were still areas of concern, especially defensively, he was encouraged by two phases of the high-scoring contest.
“The first, certainly attacking-wise, was in the opening period, when we scored two good tries through winning the possession battle and getting good field position,” he explained.
“After that, it became a bit tit for tat. We weren’t turning the ball over on our terms and we conceded too many penalties and six-agains.
“But in the opening stages of the second half, we again nailed the detail and we were willing to carry the ball hard and with aggression and put it into the right areas of the field.
“That bought us four tries, and showed that when we stick to our processes, we are effective and see results.
“We knew it was important that we started the second half well, and that got us an important cushion and enabled us to push on for the win.
“Overall, with ball in hand, I was pretty happy, but defensively, we need to be so much better.”
Sheffield head to Salford on Sunday and Lingard added: “We need to tidy up what we didn’t do too well against Dewsbury.”