Morrison demands improvement as Rams tackle Keighley

The Rams will be aiming to bounce back from successive defeats to Barrow Raiders and Leigh Centurions, although Dewsbury could feel aggrieved that they were on the wrong end of a heavy penalty count last Sunday.

Speaking after last Sunday’s 36-6 defeat to Leigh, in which referee Matthew Thomason awarded a club record 31 penalties, Morrison said: “You can’t play and you can’t get into a game when there are 30-odd penalties. It’s just not going to be a free-flowing game and it’s not what the fans want to see.

“It’s disappointing and a frustrating day but we’ve got to rise above the decisions on the field and try be a bit better

“We started okay but we gifted them some points and couldn’t get out of our own end and we only had one good ball set the whole second half.

“We’ve got to be better than and we’ve got to be smarted even when we didn’t get much ball we’ve got to be smarter when we do get it.”

Several Dewsbury players were ruled out with injury before last Sunday’s game, while James Craven withdrew during the pre-match warm-up, meaning Morrison had to shuffle his starting line-up minutes before kick off.

Morrison added: “We couldn’t pick a team until (Sunday) and when we did pick a team we had a late exclusion with James Craven so it was a bit disjointed but there’s no excuses. We know we haven’t been good enough the last couple of weeks so there is a lot of work to be done and a few people really have to sit down and look at their games.”

The Rams remain in sixth place and although they will look to make a return to winning ways against Keighley, they will be wary after the Cougars gained a first win of the season last week, defeating York City Knights 34-0.