Brian McDermott was a relieved man after seeing his Harlequins side produce a second-half surge to defeat Celtic Crusaders 26-6.

Quins led just 8-6 at the interval, but three second-half tries ensured the Londoners maintained their place in the engage Super League play-off places.

But McDermott admitted it had been a real struggle to subdue the Welsh side.

He said: "In the first half we were really banging our heads against a brick wall.

"We were trying a lot of things and they just were not coming off.

"We tried to throw the ball around but we were doing it at the totally wrong time.

"But in the second half we found a way to unlock the door and that was very pleasing.

"We put some nice plays together and I would rather focus on that than what went wrong.

"It is still a win and we will work with this and move on."

The visitors took the lead with their first real opportunity in a sluggish first half, Damien Quinn just managing to ground a Jace Van Dijk kick through.

But the hosts were soon level, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook bulldozing over after good work by Danny Orr.

A combination of slack Harlequins play and strong Celtic defence kept the scoreline tight, and the visitors can feel aggrieved after Luke Dyer had a score scrubbed out for offside.

But Quins cut loose after the break to secure victory.

Firstly, Chris Melling gathered an Orr kick to step inside and score and then minutes later Luke Williamson was on hand to take a scoring pass from David Howell.

Celtic became ragged as the half wore on, and the hosts secured the points when Chad Randall dived over to finish off a flowing move.

Crusaders coach John Dixon bemoaned his side's display after the interval as the visitors slumped to their 14th defeat in 15 games.

He said: "I thought in the first half we were right in the game, but there is no doubt that Harlequins deserved to win the game.

"We got some real tough calls against us today and that impacted the game.

"We did not really compete enough in the second half and that was disappointing."