North Wales Crusaders head coach Carl Forster is looking for his side to build on the solid start they've made to their 2024 Betfred League One campaign when they welcome Newcastle Thunder to Colwyn Bay this weekend.
Having started their league campaign with back-to-back victories over Cornwall and Midlands Hurricanes respectively, North Wales' focus now turns to this Sunday's visit of Newcastle.
Looking back at his side's positive start, Forster commented: "If anyone had said that (two wins from two) to me at the beginning of the year, we would have bitten their hand off"
"I am delighted with the mentality of the playing group, last week we saw Midlands Hurricanes have all the ball in the first half, they had a sustained 15 minutes on our goal line, our defence was outstanding and that was my message after the game, not to be negative after a game, to be that bad with the ball coming out of yardage, we defended our line brilliantly."
Forster added: "I feel that we are getting a lot of individual performances, there could be so many names for the player of the match award, we just need to make those individual performances into a overall good team performance on Sunday."
Forster will not under estimate Newcastle Thunder on Sunday, touching on the opposition, he said: "We won't be taking Newcastle Thunder lightly, I heard Chris Thorman, their coach, speaking about their progression, they are getting better week by week and at the end of the day, they are very inexperienced team, so the more they play together and get games under their belt, the better they'll be.
"Certainly our preparation will be the exact same as it has in the last two weeks."
Forster is aware of the threat of Newcastle Thunder's dual-registration partnership and some of the players which they have at their disposal: "They have a good dual-registration with York City Knights, they've had four of five York players in recent weeks, we will expect the unexpected, we will leave no stone unturned in terms of our preparation, hopefully we will go three from three, and if we can put our best foot forward we will do that."
North Wales Crusaders recorded a bumper crowd last week as 707 spectators turned out to see Forster and his team beat Midlands Hurricanes.
Mentioning the fans, Forster said "We spoke about the crowd after last week's game, certainly when your backs are against the wall and we're are on our line defending, we force an error, we hear the noise it gets your back up, it just gives you that extra couple of percent and sometimes we need that when we are tired and fatigued at the back end of games.
"We know at a club like ours that we need the support, it's as simple as that, we need to keep building in the area, as a club I feel we are doing really good things off the field with the foundation and the atmosphere in the Fanzone before the games, it's all pointing in the right direction, we just need to keep that crowd coming."
Tickets for the clash are on sale now and can be purchased by clicking HERE.
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