ROUGHYEDS boss Sean Long hailed an “outstanding” Danny Craven in the aftermath of their victory over Workington on Sunday, writes Kasey Smith.

It was touch and go whether Craven, who scored a try in the 28-4 win, would be fit enough to start.

The stand-off had received considerable amounts of treatment from the club’s physiotherapist with Kieran Tyrer, named in the 21-man squad but not the team, taking part in the warm-up before the game as a precaution.

Craven, though, produced a strong performance with good set-up play but it was his kicks which most impressed head coach Long.

“I want to give a mention to Danny Craven because I thought he was outstanding today,” he said.

“His kicking game was great and his game management as well – considering he was a little bit sore before the game, he was really good.”

Sunday’s win was a more disciplined performance from Roughyeds, who only conceded four penalties across the whole game.

Despite reducing Workington to just one late consolation try, the Roughyeds boss believes their defence can get better.

“There are still improvements we can make going forward, and we’ll work on those internally,” said Long.

“Saying that, I was really chuffed with our defence, we focus a lot on it in training, and it was good to see us scrambling back in the times when they made a few breaks.

“Full credit to Workington, because they had a right dig at us, it was a gritty game and they put us under the pump a little bit.”