Debutant Matty Gee believes Hull KR have the spirit to end slump

They lost a fourth successive game when falling 28-8 at home to Castleford Tigers on Thursday night yet had led 8-6 early in the second period.

Rovers were missing nine first-team regulars so the final result was perhaps not surprising.

But it did mean Gee, the off-season recruit from London Broncos, finally made his debut and he said: “It was good to be out there with the boys.

“The noise the fans make here is world-class. Obviously, it was a shame about the result and it wasn’t how I wanted it to go.

“But we’ll have to pick ourselves up and go again next week.”

Gee, 25, added: “In the first half, I thought we were matching them in every department, if not better.

“Obviously, we let them back in with the late try before the break and in the second half we let the game get away from us.

“There were too many penalties and we gave the ball away cheaply. But the boys work hard for the full 80 and that gives us a lot of confidence going into next week and the rest of the season.”

Matters do not get any easier for Rovers, who head to Wigan Warriors a week tomorrow.

Although some poor one-on-one tackles in the middle at times opened things up for Castleford, Rovers continually did their utmost on their own goalline, holding up opposition players on a number of occasions.

“The boys worked 100 per cent for the full game,” added Gee.

“Obviously, we did it tough in the second half with how much defending we did. The good thing was the work-rate was there for the full 80, backing your mate up.

“We scrambled well. They should have scored a few more tries really. The willingness to work for your mate stopped it.

“Obviously, it would be good to get a few bodies back but that wasn’t an excuse. We’ll be back in Monday working hard.”