Halifax Panthers prop Murray believes work ethic at club is paying dividends

The prop forward scored two tries during the 40-24 win away at York, and was quick to praise his teammates. He said: “First half, I was actually looking for my heart on the floor. They dug in for each other. When we went down to 11 men, it was backs against the wall stuff. Just shows the character of this team really and how hard we want to work for each other.

“First half we were pretty shot and under the pump. It just shows even when we have backs against the wall, we get back to a point and we settle it down, and then the back three work hard for each other, get us on the front foot. Credit one to 17 really.”

With the team now just two points away from third-placed York, Murray believes this is the time to pile on the pressure.

He said: “York were four points clear before today and now they’re two. [We have to] put applied pressure on that top three, because that’s where we want to be at the minute.

“Apply pressure, [keep] knocking off the wins. In the end, thinking about us really, looking at our stuff. I know we played well today but it wasn’t perfect.”

The 26-year-old also had high praise for Fax’s army of fans. He added: “It brings me back to last year, first game with fans. They were rocking.

“And every away game they’re rocking. When we’re scoring and they’re all cheering, it gives us that little one percent. It gives us that little bit more energy to do it, and it worked today.”