North Wales Crusaders will be looking to secure back-to-back victories this weekend as they travel to the North East to face Newcastle Thunder following last week’s last second winner over Workington Town.
Speaking ahead of the clash, Crusaders head coach Carl Forster said: “We’re under no illusions that we were far from our best last weekend, but what I can’t fault is the character which the lads showed - that was immense.
“This is a results business, and we’ve had games this season where we’ve played well and been on the wrong end of a one or two point defeat, so for me getting that win was the most important thing and it’s thrown us back into those play-off places.”
Following the recent takeover, Forster and his side have already began to see positive changes within the club: “First and foremost, I think there’s been a lot of noise around the club over the last few weeks, and it’s a credit to the group that they’ve got stuck in and not taken much notice of that.
“From a playing side, I can’t speak highly enough of how these first two weeks have gone, we’ve managed to strengthen by bringing a couple of lads in, we’ve seen an improvement in our training facilities and also are going to be expanding our staffing structure slightly as well.
“That’s all we can ask for as a playing group and coaching staff, and the lads are really responding to that, they can see that the new owners are backing up what they say, and that’s going to give everyone a bit extra going into a crucial part of the season for us.”
Sunday’s victory over Workington put Crusaders back into the play-off places, and Forster is targeting further progression up the table in the coming weeks: “I think we had the really strong performance against Oldham, and then the week off which allowed us to re-group and then look at the four games as a block which started with Workington at home last weekend.
“The play-offs is the target for us, look at last year, we finished sixth and got all the way to the grand final, so we just want to ensure that we are in that top six come the end of the year.
“Our next three games are now against teams who are around us and also fighting to push on in the second half of the season, so it’s no secret that if we want to finish in that top six then these are games which we need to be winning.
“That said, it won’t be easy, we need to be at the top of our game if we want to get results, and there’s no way we can turn up to any game thinking it’s won, because we’ll get punished.
“In the next two weeks we’ve also got to factor in travel.
“We’re up to Newcastle this weekend followed by a trip down to Cornwall next, that’s a challenge in itself, but one which we’re ready for.”
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