SHEFFIELD EAGLES coach Craig Lingard is targeting successive wins for only the second time in his South Yorkshire tenure as he builds towards Friday’s Steel City Stadium showdown with Hunslet.
The former Keighley, Batley and Castleford coach, who took the helm in December, always said it would take time to transition after the lengthy reign of Mark Aston.
New faces have been introduced while some players have left, and Lingard has also brought his own tactical ideas into play, with the 22-20 away win over London Broncos a third in nine Championship outings this year.
Only in March have the Eagles won twice running – 50-18 at home to Doncaster in the 1895 Cup first round, then 19-12 at Featherstone in the league.
The come-from-behind capital success over the Broncos lifted Sheffield to tenth, behind Featherstone on points difference, and Lingard hopes it will have provided a boost.
His side were trailing 12-4 at half-time, and he explained: “We gave away a poor try from our own scrum just before the break, and I felt we needed to go more direct and try to generate a bit of ruck tempo and push down the middle.
“We’d also had a bit of adversity through losing (scrum-half) Morgan Smith (to a calf injury) in the first half, and with only one specialist halfback (Cory Aston) on the pitch, that was another reason for simplifying things and going back to basics.
“I wanted our middles to dominate and dictate the game, and I think you could see from our second-half try-scorers (second rower Oliver Roberts and props Eddie Battye and Tyler Dickinson) that we managed that in the main.
“It’s good to have won a match that was nip and tuck and it should breed some confidence.
“The players and I know we are better than some of our performances and results suggest.”
Meanwhile experienced Featherstone-linked centre James Glover has left Sheffield.
