Castleford Tigers coach Danny McGuire was relieved to get the two points over Salford Red Devils and praised his players for showing some steel.
The Tigers ran out 22-14 winners over Salford for their first win of the season.
It wasn’t a certainty that the game would go ahead but McGuire’s side prepared like they would normally.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, he said: “It is a bit of a relief if I’m being honest. The game wasn’t a spectacle, it was very stop-start.
“I’m obviously really pleased for the players, seeing what they’ve put themselves through in pre-season and the challenges we’ve had to overcome this week, we’ve been kind of forgotten about.
“All the stories have been about Salford so it’s not been an easy week for us.”
He was mostly pleased with how they stuck in the fight and managed to pull out a win after a tough game.
He added: “They showed character, it wasn’t perfect but we kept working hard for each other and we are trying to bring that commitment and steel and players that want to work hard. We are getting there.
“It’s been tough, I’ve tried to take some pressure off the players and not focus too much on what’s going on outside of what we can control.”
It was a good team performance from the Castleford side but he highlighted a few players who stood out to him.
He said: “I thought Dan Okoro was strong on debut and Cain Robb and George Hill were good early on.
“Judah Rimbu came on and added energy. He was good but we haven’t seen the best of him yet because we haven’t been able to generate ruck speed for him to run off.
“We saw glimpses of him today when we did win the ruck. He is a smart player and players coming in from overseas always take time to settle in.
“I thought he was very good today.”
It was mentioned that Joe Westerman wasn’t in the final squad with McGuire sharing why that was.
He said: “We are missing some big bodies. Westy pulled out this morning and that changed things a little bit.
“Westy was sick but he put his hand up to play after hurting his back.”
Castleford Tigers coach McGuire was empathetic with Salford regarding their current situation but said his focus had to be on the game at hand.
He finished: “I feel for their players and staff, it’s a bit of a mess but that’s out of my control. My focus is on my players.
“I didn’t hear anything about it being postponed. We were prepared for always playing this game.
“I don’t know if anything was going on above me but I wasn’t aware of it.”
The Tigers next meet Catalans Dragons in the Challenge Cup before hosting Hull FC the week after in Super League.
