Featherstone Rovers: Rovers coach plays underdog card

Sixth-placed Rovers trail Bradford Bulls on for and against and are a single point adrift of Batley Bulldogs – who they beat 34-6 two days ago – and Sunday’s opponents Halifax.

“It is wide open,” Sharp said of the top-four battle with two games remaining in the regular season. “It is a four-horse race for two spots. There’s a point’s difference between us and Batley and Halifax and they are probably the favourites, but we are still in there fighting.

“We have still got a chance, that’s what this [last Sunday’s] game has done for us. It has given us another opportunity to fight again.”

Rovers’ side against Batley included dual-registered Leeds Rhinos players Ashton Golding, Jordan Baldwinson and Anthony Mullally.

Sharp said: “We needed to win and it was probably the best we’ve played this year.

“It was up there with the performance against London, when we beat them by a good score. I was pleased, there was plenty of pressure on us to get a result and as a group we handled that really well.”

Centre Jamie Cording suffered a knee injury and is a doubt for this weekend’s game.