Farrell: We needed to be more direct

Liam Farrell is congratulated by Willie Isa after scoring Wigan's only try

The England forward scored the Warriors’ solitary try in the 8-6 loss.

A victory would have dialed up the pressure on leaders Hull FC, but the home side failed to break down the visiting side’s defence.

And Farrell says they needed to be more direct to break them down in the middle.

He said: “We’re all disappointed. We felt we started the game quite poorly. We let them do what the want, they went down the middle of us a couple of times and got tries.

“Even then, you would back us any day of the week to score more than one try.

“But attack-wise we were off, we weren’t clicking at all.

“It felt like we were rolling them, but when it came to putting on our set plays we just couldn’t beat them.

“We needed to be more direct, rather than trying to go around them.”

Widnes conceded 20 penalties and had two players – Connor Farrell and Jack Buchanan – sent to the sinbin during the second-half.

Farrell, playing against his younger brother for the first time, added: “Even though we weren’t great you have to give credit to Widnes.

“There was a point they were down to 11 and we should have been able to capitalise on that. They didn’t have much to play for but pride, and they turned up and they scrambled well.

“It cost us in the end, and now it’s going to be a struggle to win the league leaders.”

Wigan travel to Hull FC next Friday before finishing the Super 8s with games against Warrington (away) and Catalans (home), ahead of a top-four play-offs. Teams in the top-two get a home semi-final.