Wigan needed win at Hull for top three hopes, admits Adrian Lam

Drew Darbyshire 01 Aug 2019 11:09 PM

Wigan coach Adrian Lam admitted his side needed to win at Hull if they had a chance of taking a spot in the top three come the end of the season.

A late drop goal from Zak Hardaker saw the Warriors beat the Airlie Birds 15-14 at the KCOM Stadium on Thursday night.

Wigan are now just two points behind third-placed Hull in the ladder.

The team who finishes third have two bites at the apple when it comes to the play-offs. They have a chance to make the semi-finals if they lose in the qualifying final (2nd v 3rd), whereas the fourth-placed team will be knocked out of the competition if they lose in the elimination final (4th v 5th).

Lam commented: “There are five games to go and we needed to win that game if we want to finish in the top three.

“We’ve got four out of our last five games at home and we feel that we are in control of that now.

“There are still tough games ahead like Hull KR next week and Warrington the week after, so it doesn’t get any easier.

“But in regards to the table, where we started and how hard we’ve worked to be here… I’m just really proud.”

The Warriors are heading into the business end of the season in a good run of form, having won their last eight out of nine matches.

Wigan lost to Hull in golden point in round three, but Lam is happy that he is players made amends.

He added: “If you are a supporter then it was a great game but not so much as a coach!

“There was a period in the second half were we defended 14 out of 15 sets on our own line, so I’m really proud of the players.

“I knew at some stage that they would have to rely on each other to get the win at the end and ironically, the last time we played Hull – the game went into golden point so I thought ‘here we go again’ because they have a kicker like [Marc] Sneyd.

“I’m just very pleased for the players. We missed three or four opportunities to score but they worked hard for that.”