Wigan Warriors: Mike Cooper discusses the effort that went into the win over Castleford Tigers

Liam Marshall was among the scorers in the win at the Mend-A-Hose Jungle, as he crossed for a hat-trick to take his season tally up to eight tries in three games.

Cooper states the whole Wigan squad are proud of their defensive endeavours, with the Castleford victory being the second consecutive game where they haven’t conceded a try.

“We had to really work for that,” he said.

“Defensively we were outstanding and we had to cover for each other.

“Credit to Cas, they throw the ball around a lot and make you scramble hard.

“Coming here is very difficult to get points, they’ll pick up some wins pretty quickly because they’ve got a great shape there.

“We came through that test and got what we deserve in the end, so I’m really proud of this team.

“It wasn’t pretty, we just rolled up our sleeves and got on with it to get the points.

“We are a group of mates, both staff and players, we showed that.

“You’ve got to have a good D to do well in this competition, but there will still be things we need to work on.

“Against Wakefield it was all attack, that’s how people look at it, but it’s defence that wins you games.

“Sometimes the scoreboard is irrelevant, it’s good to keep teams to zero, and pretty impressive, but we won’t get carried away.

“The Hull KR defeat still hurts but you’ve got to take it week-by-week.”

Following the last two games, Cooper believes Wigan are in a good position heading into Thursday’s game against Catalans Dragons at the DW Stadium.

“It’s all about momentum,” he added.

“It’s better to have wins like this going into a short turnaround, opposed to losing two games.

“We’ve got to keep momentum and keep working hard, which we’ll do.

“It’ll be great to be at home, and we’ve got a good record there.

“We are proud to play in front of our friends and family so we will give it our best shot.”