HULL KR coach Craig Sandercock insisted he was proud of his side's efforts despite losing to bottom-placed Castleford.
Rovers had half the possession of their opponents due to an 11-3 penalty count in the hosts' favour.
However, Rovers actually led 18-12 approaching the hour mark, something Sandercock believes showed their spirit and determination.
"I'm pretty proud of the boys," he said.
"Nothing went particularly wrong with our game. I've never been involved in a game where one team has had to defend their whole line for the entire 80 minutes.
"Castleford had enough ball to win 50 games, let alone one. The difference between the two sides was possession and a lot of it was our own doing and we'll look at that.
"For us to be competitive and keep it close as we did though is a very good effort."
Sandercock said he had left Greg Eden out of his line-up, to be replaced by Craig Hall, due to concerns over fitness.
"Greg was showing signs of fatigue and a few other little things and I thought it would be best for him to rest up," he said.
"Hopefully he and Cory Paterson will be back for next week. Out of the eight automatic first choice players out injured, six should be back by the end of this month," he added. "Maybe then we'll see more consistency from us ."
