John Cartwright earned his third win in four matches as Catalans Dragons boss yesterday, after his side saw off Bradford Bulls.
Les Dracs emerged as 34-24 winners, but would again make the result far less comfortable than it needed to be.
Josh Allen, Zac Lipowicz, Julien Bousquet, Charlie Staines, Kruise Leeming and Solomona Faataape all crossed for tries in the win, with Guillermo Aispuro-Bichet kicking five of six conversions.
The home side led 22-10 at the break, but with Bradford winning the second half 14-12, it again showed Catalans’ inability to see out a game, something Cartwright alluded to in his post-match comments.
“I think the thing I like the most about it is the potential in the team,” he said to Sky Sports. “I don’t think we’ve got anywhere close in my short amount of time here, but they keep finding a way to win.
If we can just find a bit of steel in defence, we’ve certainly got the makings of a good team here.
“…[The performance has] been a bit similar to the wins we’ve had recently where we look like we’re gonna finish the game safely, but just, as I say, that little bit of grit and that little bit of steel in defence.
“I saw it in patches today, but it’s got to be more consistent because we can certainly score points, but we’re probably leaking a little too many.”
Catalans Dragons set for crucial period as play-off push lives onÂ
The Dragons take on Warrington Wolves next week, before a meeting with Toulouse at Magic Weekend.
Leeds then travel to Perpingan, before they play Saints away and Toulouse for a second time. Some of those games will be deemed as must-win if they are to make the top six, whilst others will be seen as very winnable.
Cartwright agreed that the next period of fixutres will tell a clearer story of Catalans Dragons under his tutelage, with an improvement in defence a key thing the boss wants to see.
He said: “There’s some games here that, I suppose, we’d be expected to win, but you can’t take that attitude to the game, especially us.
“For us it’s just finding… a little bit of steel in defence. We can keep the scoreboard ticking over, but we’ve got to find a way to stop giving up 20 points a game.”
