KEIRON Cunningham said Saints deserved the two points as they beat Leeds Rhinos 6-4 at the Totally Wicked Stadium.
Theo Fages scored to get his side off to the best possible start – but the head coach knows there is more to come from his side.
“I was a little disappointed with certain aspects of the first half,” he said. “We could have been a lot better and helped ourselves out. We were behind the penalty count 7-2 in the first half too. But the resilience of the players was second to none.
“I think the togetherness of this group is far more advanced than any I have ever worked with in terms of unity and that showed tonight. It wasn’t pretty at times but we worked hard for each other.
“We got a nice early score and then defended our way to victory. They threw a lot at us and we had some players out of position but I thought we deserved it. Victories create belief and we can take a lot of confidence from it.”
He continued: “I thought Tommy Makinson was fantastic – he certainly made up for the one where he made the break and doesn’t pass to Morgan Knowles to go under the posts! He has great ability and that comes from the adversity at the club. He won a Grand Final at full back – it was game changing that big tackle but there was a lot of game changers out there.
“The middles were outstanding, Tommy Lee, Robes and Wilkin were great. Wilko did 60 in the middle and 20 in the back row. Theo Fages was outstanding too. They went at him like a battering ram all night and he made tackles and put on his plays. To a man I thought they were outstanding.
“Danny had a great debut too. We kept it simple for the half backs and they both did well.”
