We need to keep pushing our self belief says Castleford Tigers boss Carr
Having struggled to back up good performances this season not many will be rushing to put a bet on Castleford Tigers making it back to back wins for the first time under Ryan Carr when they tackle the Super League leaders this Saturday.
But after conceding 50 points in successive games it was clearly a big step forward to beat a committed York Knights team on their own patch and to keep the home team scoreless in the second half was a huge effort as it showed a marked improvement in the Tigers’ defensive efforts.
Head coach Carr has seen green shoots show through before this season only for major disappointments the week after, but reckons the players can take some renewed confidence into their next challenge, a home game against St Helens.
“I know what we’ve got here at this club and in this group,” he said. “We need to keep pushing that self-belief, individually and collectively.
"It was a win based on effort really. That pleases me a lot. It was a real character win.
“There’s no better way of learning than doing something. I felt like we took a lot out of doing really well in tough moments.
“We can review and reflect on that because we have had the opposite thing happen to us and we’ve had to reflect on that, which is the hard part of our job.”
Carr added: "The boys’ attitude has been really good. We’d been disappointed with how we’d played the previous two games, but we had a fortnight to refresh and regroup and a couple of the new boys had two weeks training with the team.
"That fortnight helped us a lot to get some consistency in training. We’ve had so much change in playing squad from week to week, but we were able to train together for a good two weeks and it feels like we got some connection out there. That helped a lot.
"The defensive resolve stood out for me, especially in the second half.”
"We just want to keep improving each week. I feel we improved the week before last into this week and just want to improve again next week.”
Cas know what is to come having already lost to St Helens at the OneBore Stadium, 32-8 in a Challenge Cup tie in March.
They go into the match with no fresh injuries and the prospect of a few players being available again, but they will be without forward George Hirst who picked up a two-match ban for a high tackle against York.