Although he was encouraged by parts of his side’s display at Workington Town last time out, North Wales Crusaders head coach Anthony Murray is looking for an improvement against Oldham this weekend.
Murray’s side opened their League 1 campaign with a 48-18 in Cumbria as Workington showed their quality to kill off the game late on.
The scoreline didn’t tell a true picture, though, as Crusaders matched their hosts for large parts and had to play a spell with 12 men.
“I’d back us against anybody,” Murray said.
“If we get the fundamentals of the game right – depending well, not giving silly penalties away and respecting possession – we’ll go well.
“I thought that, for period against Workington, we didn’t do that and they caught us out.
“We we did do it, we looked good and we were more than a match for Workington.
“You’ve got to do it for the full 80 minutes and Workington showed their class in the end.
“They’re a quality side and they’ve definitely set the benchmark so far this season.
“We’ve picked the match to pieces this week. We’ve got to learn from it, but we also need to take out some of the positives.
“Oldham are another tough side and it won’t be any easier, but we should hopefully have a couple of bodies back.
“If we improve on the areas we need to and get those fundamental things right, we’ll be fine.”
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