Express & Star

Wane delighted as late turnaround ends Wigan’s poor recent run

Departing coach says: “We’ve probably spoiled a few headlines.”

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Shaun Wane admits he was happy to spoil some headlines after Wigan moved six points clear of Hull following their 14-10 win at the KCOM Stadium.

Wigan came into this game on the back of three successive defeats – and a fourth looked on the cards as the Warriors trailed 10-8 with 10 minutes to play.

But Liam Marshall’s late try, after Sam Tomkins’ drop goal rebounded off the crossbar, sealed the win for Wane and enabled his side to close the gap on leaders St Helens to six points.

Hull FC v Wigan Warriors – Betfred Super League – KCOM Stadium
Wigan coach Shaun Wane was smiling after the late comeback at Hull (Dave Howarth/PA).

“I’m happy with the win,” Wane said. “We’ve probably spoiled a few headlines. We showed some guts and determination.

“We had a week’s training and we played a lot better, that’s what you get because of the short turnarounds – we’ve not been able to train as much.

“This is a good place for us to come, great stadium, good pitch, they are a good team and they are a bit busted at the minute.

“You have to lift your game and it could easily have gone the other way.

“Our reaction and skill (after the drop goal) was superb, to react so quick was great.

“I think we deserved to win the game but they played well.

“They dominated the contact area when the rain came down. I was impressed with them and I was impressed with us – and it was a good game.”

Wigan had lost all three games since Wane announced he would be leaving at the end of the season.

The coach admits the performance and win proved their three defeats were merely a blip and had nothing to do with his decision to quit.

“I get it, we have been together a long time,” Wane said.

“I knew there would be disruption and it’s happened.

“We don’t develop softness overnight and we’ve just had a few weeks where we’ve been off. We had a few things go wrong at the same time.

“We are a team that has to train, we can’t not train and we’ve had a decent week and come up with a decent performance.

“I’m with the players every single day and I know what my players are about – and we’ve been in a tough place.

“There’s been no pressure, I know what they can deliver and what we saw the last three weeks wasn’t Wigan.

“We showed some decent signs today that we are back into it.”

Hull will see this defeat as a game they could have won.

Bureta Faraimo’s two tries put them in pole position for the win, only for Marshall to snatch the points at the end.

Hull coach Lee Radford felt two areas of his side’s game cost them victory.

He said: “Two things in particular (cost us). Errors really hurt us throughout the game but our game management at the end was unbelievably frustrating.

“In the changing rooms, we are saying ‘great effort’ but effort gets you so far and you need other ingredients if we want to be in the mix.

“We had an opportunity to be two points behind them in the table and it’s incredibly frustrating.

“Some of the decision-making from key players was really frustrating.”

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