SHEFFIELD EAGLES coach Craig Lingard accepts five wins from five solidified his team’s hold on a top-ten play-off place.
But he insists there’s no space for letting up as the Dronfield side drive for as high a finish as possible.
In the wake of a narrow 18-16 defeat at Barrow in mid-June, Lingard challenged his players to take maximum points from the next block of games, four of which were at home.
Sheffield duly saw off Whitehaven and Dewsbury, won at Salford, then back at the MEPS International Home of Football Stadium, their new base, beat Workington and Rochdale.
Hornets were seen off 56-6 last Sunday, with ten tries scored, and Lingard said: “Overall it’s been pleasing.
“We won those five matches and came though them finding areas where we needed to improve and trying to put those lessons into practice.
“We’ll keep on doing that, and from the Rochdale game, we know our completion can be better and that there was a spell when we gave away too many penalties.
“The try we conceded was disappointing, because it was on our goal-line, and we weren’t stripped for numbers, it was more a lack of concentration.
“There have been a few of them this season, and that’s something we can control better.”
Sheffield, who have five regular-season matches remaining, starting with Sunday’s visit of Halifax Panthers, last made the play-offs in 2023, when it was top six and they fell at the first hurdle, losing at home to London Broncos.
“We’ve dropped some points against sides above us, like London, but we sometimes had players missing and others out of position,” added Lingard.
“We have a better bill of health now and hopefully we can maintain some form and make more of a challenge.”