Saturday 29 September 2018 22:49, UK
Danny Ward believes London Broncos' "underdog" status can play to their advantage in the Million Pound Game, live on Sky Sports.
The Championship coach of the year admitted his team will have to improve against either Hull KR or Toronto Wolfpack after a narrow 23-16 victory over Halifax on Saturday.
Despite the potentially lengthy trip to Toronto in the reckoning, Ward says he has no preference over which side they are drawn against.
"I'm miserable if we haven't performed and I always demand more from the boys, but hopefully we can fix those things and get buzzed up ahead of next week," said Ward after the full-time whistle in their final Super 8s Qualifiers match.
"Maybe what had happened with Toulouse and Toronto was in the back of our minds.
"We can compare the city of Toronto with Hull all day, but they are both fantastic Super League standard teams.
"Wherever it is, it's going to be very hard and we are going to be going in as underdogs. Maybe that will be a lot less pressure on us and a lot more pressure on them."
Halifax took a surprise lead when hooker Ben Kaye dived through the Broncos backs before Scott Murrell wonderfully chipped through for Steve Tyrer to double the advantage.
However, Ward's men rediscovered their composure when Jarrod Sammut leapt through a tight gap to reduce the deficit and Eloi Pelissier drew the sides level three minutes later.
But Richard Marshall's side scored their third try when Adam Tangata had the power to inch his way down the right touchline and over the line to earn a shock 16-12 half-time lead.
The decisive score eventually came with 20 minutes to go when Sammut's inch-perfect high kick was knocked back to Kieran Dixon to score after video replay confirmation.
Elliot Kear scored with 12 minutes remaining as Sammut capped off a fine Qualifiers campaign with a last-second drop goal.
Yet Halifax head coach Marshall admitted to not being too downhearted by the result that left his side without a win in their last seven matches.
"I am really pleased, but it would have been nice to get two points on the board," he said.
"If we are giving out medals for hard work and endeavour, we would have a full sleeve.
"The players are frustrated, we think we are better than that. That's a really good sign that we aren't happy with competing."
