Adrian Lam's reaction to Wigan Warriors' 20-18 victory against Leigh Centurions

Adrian Lam admitted Wigan were poor on the opening night but was proud of the way his players fought back to claim victory.
John Bateman made his returnJohn Bateman made his return
John Bateman made his return

By the half-hour mark they trailed 18-0 to Leigh Centurions and had already lost new-boy Jai Field to a hamstring injury which is likely to sideline him for six weeks.

But two tries before half-time cut the gap to 10 points, and two more after the break secured a tense 20-18 win.

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"I was a little bit frustrated. Our preparation has been great but at the end of the day, the reality is it never turns out that way," said Lam.

"To win by two points and to get two points is a massive reward after the start we had, so I'll take it.

"I know we weren't great and the players identify that as well, but we'll keep working hard and manage the next couple of weeks and we'll be okay.

"We started with players out of positions, but then we lost Jai Field and we put more people out of position.

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"But the positive was we found a way to win and that's the hardest part of coaching, to develop that instinct in the group. We pride ourselves on being resilient and trusting each other, and that's the pleasing part."

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Wigan suffered an injury-scare to John Bateman when he appeared to twist his knee in a heavy tackle, but he managed to continue the game and Lam expects him to get better as he settles back into the side.

"John will find his way, give him four weeks, I'm looking forward to him improving every week," said Lam. "Our bench was great, they changed the game to be honest but I thought Sam Powell was probably our best player."

He reported no other injury concerns aside from Field.

Leigh coach John Duffy said: "I'm gutted for the lads, I thought we should have seen out the game. I think internally we know we can stay up, and you saw against a champion side what we could do at times.

"I'm proud of the players. We've been given stick since we've come up, we turned up but our lesson is to do it consistently."