SIMON Verbickas is not prepared to put a ceiling on how high his Wharfedale team can climb.

The Green Machine’s director of rugby said in the wake of Saturday’s 31-7 home derby victory over Otley in National League Two North: “The possibilities are endless if we work hard.”

Wharfedale currently sit third in the table on 23 points, seven behind leaders Leeds Tykes and six adrift of Rotherham Titans in a Yorkshire-dominated top half of the division.

After a curious first half in which both sides should have scored more points, Wharfedale led 12-7, but gave Otley few opportunities in the second half in scoring 19 unanswered points.

“It was similar to last week,” said Verbickas of the overall performance. “We need to start a little bit stronger than we have been doing and left Otley in the game at half-time.

“But it was a chilled and relaxed changing room during the interval, which meant to me that we were going to come out and be better than we were in the first half, and the lads proved that with composure and the belief that we have got that we would go on to win.

“The big positive for me is that every time someone comes off the bench it lifts a little bit for us as it is more about the 20-man squad who play on a Saturday and the 35 to 40 lads who train on a Tuesday and a Thursday.”

While Wharfedale were disappointed not to score in the first half when Otley were down to 13 men, with full back Ben Dinsdale and No 8 Sam Waddington in the sin bin, Verbickas admitted: “It has become a trend that it is more difficult to score when the opposition are men down.

“You suddenly have this thought that you will score every time you touch the ball and the opposition lift their game as well.”

As for the second half, Verbickas said: “We realise that we must work really hard going up the hill in the first half and keep the score close which will give us some momentum going downhill in the second half.

“It was a squad effort in the second half, and if we keep everybody fit and coming down to training and they keep developing what we can achieve is up to the lads.”