ST HELENS coach Paul Wellens is confident his side are improving each week despite suffering back-to-back Super League defeats.
The Saints went down by two points against Warrington but Wellens could not fault his team’s effort, although he did feel they could have been smarter with ball in hand.
“Obviously we are disappointed as team that we haven’t got the result,” said Wellens. “But in terms of performance, I thought we were really good. I think a couple of missed opportunities in the first half cost us.
“I remember one out on the left edge where Mark Percival couldn’t quite find the pass to Dayon (Sambou) and then one on the right edge where Jon Bennison makes a break. If we nail one of those opportunities, then we apply some scoreboard pressure but we didn’t.
“Our supporters are going to be disappointed that we lost the game, but I am convinced they can see like we can that we are improving as a team.
“We need to nail those moments. I like a lot of what we are doing at the moment, but we are just not quite putting the icing on the cake when we need to. That’s an improvement area for us, but it’s really encouraging that we are creating opportunities.
“I really feel we are improving week-on-week.”
Wellens was full of praise for debutant Sambou after the winger came in to replace the injured Kyle Feldt and marked his first Super League appearance with a try.
He said: “We had a number of options (to replace Feldt), but I just thought the easiest option and the safest option is just replace a winger with a winger, rather than move middles to back-row and back-rowers to centre.
“You have to do that at times, but before a game when you have got decisions to make, I think the simpler the better.
“I have to credit Dayon for the way he handled the occasion. He was nervous as anything in training before the game. I had a chat with him to tell him that was completely normal. The way he channelled those nerves into his performance was really good to see.”
