CRAIG Sandercock praised his Hull KR side for refusing to get sucked into a brutal battle before dumping St Helens out of the Challenge Cup.
Saints had winger Francis Meli sent off for a high first-half tackle on Craig Hall, leaving Saints down to 12 men for the final 47 minutes.
Before Meli's dismissal, referee Richard Silverwood had already placed both Jon Wilkin and Ade Gardner on report for late hits on Michael Dobson and Kris Welham.
Welham needed 20 minutes off the pitch to recover, but did return to see Rovers through a nervy final quarter to seal a big victory.
And Sandercock was delighted by how his side stuck to the game plan rather than retaliate to Saints' heavy-handed tactics.
"We spoke at half-time about remaining disciplined and we did that," he explained.
"The first 10 minutes after half-time we were very sloppy and Saints, who have a great side, scored two quick tries.
"I was concerned because before half-time we had totally dominated them.
"But we showed character and the young kids rolled their sleeves up and worked very hard.
"In the end we deserved to win."
Having secured his first win in the cup, Sandercock would love to end Rovers' 27-year wait for a Challenge Cup final appearance.
"It was really good to get the win," added the Australian.
"This club holds the cup in high esteem and to get the win against a great side like Saints is very pleasing.
"We trained hard this week and the boys deserve a lot of credit.
"Everybody makes a lot about other teams having injuries but we showed great character because we've had our fair share of injuries too."
The win was the Robins' second over Saints this month, thanks to some training ground moves being applied in a big-game situation.
Full-back Greg Eden surprised his former Huddersfield Giants coach Nathan Brown with a couple of kicks that resulted in tries for Craig Hall in the first half and Liam Salter in the second.
But Sandercock wasn't surprised because of the hard work Eden does on his kicking in training.
"Kicking is a part of Greg's game he works on every day," he said.
"We're spending a lot of time together and working on aspects of his game. If he keeps developing, he'll be an even better player.
"We pinpointed some areas we felt we could get some joy against Saints and we did that. As a coach it's very pleasing to score tries you work hard on in training."
