NATHAN Brown praised his side’s effort and commitment following their 16-4 win at Widnes on Sunday.
Francis Meli bagged a brace as Saints picked up their first points of the Super League season.
“It is good to get a win and we were far far better than the week before,” he said. “Our commitment was great but we know we have a lot of work to do in our attack going forward. We need to get the defence right and then you can look to grind out wins whilst fixing up your attack.
“The opposition ripped in today and if we’d have shown the same commitment as last week then we would have lost.
“We had to move a few people around during the game as Josh Perry (knee), Lance Hohaia (shoulder) and Jonny Lomax (head) came off injured. As a result our commitment and effort were good and that gave us a chance.
“We were defensively strong too and we know we have areas to work on. We are trying to change a few things in attack – but if we keep our D good then we will grind out our fair share of wins and progress.”
Widnes lost Ben Cross to a red card during the match for a late and high hit on Paul Wellens and had Jon Clarke sent off in the melee afterwards.
“There were a lot of players in there so I didn’t quite see what happened,” Nathan added. “Benny plays the game physically and hard and sometimes that judgement can err. I thought the ref reffed the game quite well. We got penalties in the first half and Widnes in the second. I thought he did well not to react to the crowd.
“But I was always confident we would win before then. We weren’t going so well in attack but our defence had us on top. We had them pinned down at their own line but couldn’t get momentum because they got penalties each time. I thought it was flowing our way and you always feel comfortable when you are defending well.”
Saints have a few injury concerns heading into this week’s match but James Roby should return from a minor foot problem.
Meanwhile, Ade Gardner and Anthony Walker came through well in Whitehaven’s win over Keighley on Sunday.
Ade played the full game whilst ‘Walks’ came on after 25 minutes and played the rest of the game.
A club spokesman added: “Both did well on their debuts for Whitehaven and have shown great commitment and attitude. Their performances push their chances of playing in the first team.”
