The Rams burst into a 12-0 lead after only ten minutes thanks to tries from Matt Garside and Owen Restall. But Ford’s men recovered well to score 46 unanswered points to secure a fifth win on the spin.
Ford said: “I thought Dewsbury were pretty good. They had seven sets to our one in that period and scored two tries. We couldn’t handle them physically. They generated some tempo. So well done to them for that period.
“They were bumping off our contact, finding offloads, providing ruck speed and when things get quick in rugby league it gets an awful lot more challenging to defend. Dewsbury had to be good to take those chances and they were.
“From our perspective, though, we want to be better than that. We came up with some poor decisions. Beyond that I was pretty pleased with the other 60 minutes and to win that 46-0 just shows what a talented team we have got.”
He added: “The sport is an 80-minute period and it's very rare that you dominate a team for 80 minutes. Teams have moments and even halves in games but we felt as soon as we got some ball, completed some sets and built our way into the game then we would be okay.
“If you would have offered me a 46-0 last 60 minutes there and then I’d have thought you were a bit mad but I’ll take it. We looked comfortable in the second half.”
Opposite number Paul March said: “The lads gave 110 per cent today but they haven’t got anything for their efforts. When you play a top four side in Featherstone you can’t keep turning the ball over. It then got pretty quick in that second half and we struggled to contain them.
“We played some really good stuff at the start of the game and we made Featherstone look ordinary to start with. But momentum changed and they got on top. We were defending for long periods of that first half and we couldn’t get the shape that we wanted.
“We lost the energy battle and we only completed at 50 per cent. And when you are only completing at 50 per cent you can’t play your own shape. Credit to them but we will learn from that and move on.”
Here are some photos from today’s game taken by Thomas Flynn.
1. Action shots
Featherstone Rovers beat Dewsbury Rams 46-12 in round 8 of the Championship today. Photo: Thomas Fynn
2. Action shots
Dewsbury Rams made a bright start and led 12-0 in the early stages. Photo: Thomas Fynn
3. Action shots
But Featherstone responded emphatically and scored 46 unanswered points. Photo: Thomas Fynn
4. Action shots
Featherstone's win was their fifth on the trot in the Championship. Photo: Thomas Fynn