FEATHERSTONE ROVERS winger Connor Wynne believes coming through the heat of a tough clash against Widnes bodes well for a planned push up the standings by Paul Cooke’s side.
While through to the 1895 Cup final after beating Oldham in last weekend’s semi-final, Featherstone are now focused on facing Batley at home on Sunday before a trip to Barrow seven days later.
The 38-16 win at Widnes, achieved after the hosts fought back from 16-0 down to level things by the hour, lifted Rovers out of the dreaded bottom four – an ‘eights’ competition also involving the top four League One teams will determine who plays in which section next season.
And Cooke is confident that if his charges can carry on where they left off at the DCBL Stadium, they can add to their tally of three league wins.
Former Hull FC man Wynne – hailed for his contribution in defence as well as attack (he scored a ninth try in as many appearances this year) – agrees, saying: “We really needed that win, and we have to use it to kick-start our season.
“It was tough because of the sunny weather; the heat seems to bounce off their (artificial) pitch back at you.
“We let them back into it, but when we got back to the plan and doing the things we had been early on, we ran away with it. That was pleasing, but we have to follow it up.”
Cooke said: “Wingers have to stop tries as well as score them, and Connor pulled off a couple of great tackles to bail us out.
“Avoiding situations where he has to do that is something we need to look at, and we also need to consider discipline, because we gave a lot of penalties away.
“But the good thing was that we responded to a bad patch positively and got a really important win under our belts, knowing there is still plenty of improvement in us.”
