Marshall: Fate is out of our hands
Halifax coach Richard Marshall was disappointed about his side’s 24-20 home defeat against Featherstone Rovers last weekend and admits they are reliant on other results to stand a chance of making the top four.
Halifax host London on Sunday.
“Our execution and skill level wasn’t good enough on the day. Featherstone scored four tries off the back of our errors but I thought they deserved it on the day.
“They wanted it a little bit more, which is disappointing at this time of the season when the big games are coming round.
“We’re now in a very vulnerable position with the top four, but it’s still all to play for. We’ve still got to win our last game and hope results go our way.
“Obviously London aren’t in the best of form. They were pretty comfortable where they were and maybe have been changing the squad around but I think they’ll be looking for a win to kick-start their play-off campaign.
“We’ve got another home game and we want to finish this part of the season on a real high.”
London suffered a third loss in four games away to Batley Bulldogs last time out and coach Andrew Henderson has urged his players to stop the rot ahead of the Qualifiers.
“Full credit to Batley – they played low risk percentage football, earning them field position, which they capitalised on,” Henderson said.
“We, on the other hand, didn’t execute well enough with the ball, and our overall discipline was poor, highlighted by a heavy penalty count against us.
“These last two games we haven’t played well enough and the players’ motivation needs to be questioned. Individually, players need to ensure that they’re doing their roles to the best of their ability for the greater good of the team.
“Too many aren’t being consistent enough. What we have to realise is that we need to be playing well together, as a team, going into the 8s – regardless of our current position in the league.
“Securing top two has been a fantastic achievement by this team considering where we were last year, however, that’s gone now, and we can’t rest on our laurels.
“We need to fix the small things in our game and change our mentality leading into Halifax this week. It’s all about improving performance to gain confidence and build belief.”
