Wakefield Trinity's 'slow burners' are hitting their stride says Daryl Powell

After winning ugly a little the week before Trinity had to do it the hard way again after they found themselves eight points down in the first half in their last 16 Betfred Challenge Cup tie against the Rhinos at the DIY Kitchens Stadium.

But after coming up with a brilliant move to score a try off the last play of the first half Wakefield went on to dominate the second, preventing the free scoring Leeds side from adding a single point to their tally.

Powell acknowledge that his side upped their game in every aspect in the second 40 minutes and is pleased with the week by week progress being made by the team.

He said: ​“I think we are growing and there is so much to like about us as a team and it’s piecing together.

"All the signs are really positive for us as a team in all sorts of different ways.

"I did feel that it could give us a real kick-start in our season.

"Everyone has been doubting what we’re about really, but I always felt we would be a slow burner this year because we’ve got a few players who’ve missed big chunks of pre-season.

"Mikey (McMeeken), Jazz (Tevega), Caleb (Hamlin-Uele), people like that, and Caius (Faatili) missed a fair bit. They are starting to come now, you can see that.”

Powell added: “I still think there’s loads of improvement in us and we are going to play better, conditions dictate a little bit.

"But the last two weeks have shown that you can fight your way through some tough scenarios and come out the other side.

“Last year we lost seven games by six points or less and we’re turning that round a little bit, which is always going to be helpful to a team’s psyche.”

Trinity get back to Super League action on Friday when they host Leigh Leopards looking to climb the table after two wins and two losses so far.

The club is confident there will be no repeat of the floodlight failure that delayed the Leeds cup tie.

“Initial indications suggest the cause was an isolated cable fault, which was entirely unforeseen,” said a Trinity statement.

"Prior to kick-off, all standard pre-game safety and operational checks were completed and no issues with the floodlighting system were identified at that time.

“Our stadium operations team worked quickly with onsite engineers to investigate the fault and the issue was identified and addressed. We will undergo further testing to confirm the issue has been completely rectified ahead of our next game on Friday against Leigh Leopards.”