Dowson admits Saints had to work 'very hard' during win at 'spirited' Nottingham
Phil Dowson admits Saints were made to work 'very hard' by Nottingham on Friday night.
The black, green and gold bagged a 66-33 win against the Championship side at The Bay, notching 10 tries on the night.
But Nottingham, who twice led early on, kept fighting until the end and ensured Saints could not get into cruise control at any point.
"They made us work very hard," Saints boss Dowson said.
"There were some very frustrating elements to it but it was a spirited Nottingham side and we managed to get on top at the end of the first half and start of the second.
"We couldn't quite get into our rhythm at any point.
"The penalty count in the second half was something like 11-5 and that just gives them opportunity to get into our half and we didn't keep them out as much as we'd like to.
"The second half was a bit frustrating but we worked really hard in the first half to grind them down and we just took our foot off the gas a little bit.
"Nottingham were spirited, they got stuck in, they caused us a lot of problems, so fair play.
"They got a lot of turnovers and slowed a lot of ball down.
"Obviously the conditions made it tricky to move the ball fast, which is what we wanted to do.
"The scrum dominance in the first half was great but we couldn't really turn the tide to get on top of their defence so credit to them.”
Dowson was impressed with the performance of centre Charlie Savala, who delivered a hat-trick on the night.
"It's fantastic and he's been great when he's been playing over the past month or so," Dowson said.
"I'm delighted for him and how he's stepped into the fold."
Saints must now wait for other results before they discover whether they will have a home quarter-final in the Premiership Rugby Cup.
Dowson's men topped Pool 2, collecting 25 points from a possible 30.
"We'll wait and see and then make a plan for the next block of games before we get back into the Prem," Dowson said.
"We want to go as far as we can in this tournament and that will be dependent on lots of different things.
"It would be great to have a home quarter-final."