CRAIG Sandercock hailed his Hull KR side for "doing the little things well" in their 38-24 derby win over Hull FC at the Magic Weekend.
Rovers picked up their second derby win of the Super League season at the Etihad, having led 18-0 after two tries from Liam Salter and one from in-form Kevin Larroyer, before being pegged back to 26-24 midway through the second period.
However, a late two-try show from on-loan winger Ade Gardner helped the Robins to earn the bragging rights and delighted his coach.
Sandercock said: "We weren't at our best but it was two points and two points are like gold in this competition.
"For us, it was about putting in a performance and making sure we did the little things well. I thought we did that for periods of the game.
"To their credit, Hull came back well and we let in a couple of tries we are really disappointed with, but I always thought that we had enough quality that if we got a bit of decent ball we could score points."
Gardner notched his first try when Hull's Jason Crookes saw red for a high tackle, but FC fought back with tries from Danny Houghton and Iafeta Paleaaesina to add to earlier ones from Dean Hadley and Jamie Shaul.
But the on-loan St Helens man bagged a close-range effort, going in at the very corner where Crookes would have been defending.
Robins skipper Josh Hodgson settled matters in the final stages, thanks to seven conversions from the impressive Travis Burns.
Hull coach Lee Radford was proud of his side, who tried to battle on when reduced by the loss of Crookes.
He said: "I thought the overall effort when we were down to twelve was fantastic and we probably deserved something out of the game.
"It was a red card, some weeks you get those decisions and other weeks you don't, but I was pleased with the way my team showed the determination to get back into the game.
"It was a typical derby, really gritty and a competitive game across the park and we have to now tap into the energy and enthusiasm we showed when we were reduced to 12-men and bring that to the party to turn our results around."
