Castleford Tigers 0 Wigan Warriors 22: Adrian Lam salutes his players

Jackson Hastings and Zak Hardaker celebrate

The Warriors were good value for the victory against a below-par hosts, rattling the play-offs-chasing Tigers with an energetic and aggressive defensive effort.

Jackson Hastings scored their only try before the break - ending a run of five halves without a touchdown - with Oliver Gildart, Liam Marshall and Brad Singleton adding later tries.

And Lam admitted he was more pleased to keep their opponents to nil as they claimed a confidence-boosting victory, drawing a line under a difficult period.

He said: "We'll enjoy this for the next 24 hours and we need to, it's been quite an intensive couple of weeks for us, emotionally-draining to be honest with you.

"There's a bit of relief but a bit of grateful, really, because that's what we're capable of doing.

"We've not won here for a long time and the current situation - to come to a ground like this - and keep them to zero was one of the highlights of the year.

"I thought we were resilient, we missed with a couple of kicks to seal it, but we were persistent.

"We just needed to find a way to find that confidence back and we defended tough, we were resilient and we looked back to the Wigan ways."

Lam drafted in Sam Halsall onto the wing when Jai Field withdrew on match-day, and the youngster was one of many to impress particularly by defusing Castleford' s high kicks.

"Sam was brilliant, I'm really proud of him," said Lam. "He got a late call today and I knew they'd be kicking to that wing but we call him 'The Bank' because he's so safe, his catching ability is unbelievable, probably the best in our club.

"And he's brought a lot more than that tonight, I'm really proud of him."

Wigan would have slipped from fourth with defeat but instead, they keep hold of the position and - in a further boost - two of the other sides behind them, Leeds and Hull FC, also lost.

Lam's side face Warrington on Sunday, at the Magic Weekend in Newcastle, before completing their regular season with fixtures against Hull FC and Catalans.