Wigan Warriors ace Liam Marshall previews Wakefield Trinity tie as St Helens defeat addressed

Despite a strong start to the year, winning their opening five league games, Wigan have suffered successive defeats against Huddersfield Giants and St Helens over the last fortnight of Super League action.

The Warriors surrendered a 24-10 lead against Saints in the closing stages of the Good Friday derby, eventually falling to a 34-24 defeat, and Marshall admitted the result has been difficult to process following a detailed review among the group.

“It was a very flat feeling post-game – obviously very disappointed,” Marshall told Wigan Today. “As much as we were disappointed, it just wasn’t up to our standards, and we spoke about that this week in our review, showing some areas where we could’ve fixed the problems and where we could have stopped the momentum at the backend of the game.

“It just wasn’t good enough on Friday, and to lose a derby in that fashion just wasn’t acceptable, but we’ve looked at the areas that we can improve on, and that we can get better at, so we’re just looking forward now to the weekend.”

As a hometown boy who grew up supporting the club, Marshall knows the importance of the Good Friday fixture more than most and acknowledged the disappointment of letting a winning position slip.

“As much as it hurts for the fans, it hurts for us as players as much,” he said. “Us local lads have been a fan in the crowd watching those Good Friday games and we know how much it means to the people of Wigan, so we’re bitterly disappointed we couldn’t see out the game and get the win.

“We’ve looked back at that last eight minutes and have probably watched it numerous times now. Sometimes it hurts worse on video when you watch it. At the time it’s awful and it’s a terrible feeling, but when they go to take the lead, we thought maybe we could get back in it and try to snag something.

“But when you sit down and watch it on video in front of your peers and pick out things you could have individually done better and what the team could’ve done better, it’s hard and tough, but I think playing rugby and being a professional, you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth.

“That was definitely a rough review and a rough weekend, but we’ve addressed it and we can only look to improve and go at this game at the weekend.”

Attention now turns to the Challenge Cup, with Wigan aiming to respond against an in-form Wakefield side who have won their last five matches in all competitions.

“They’re a team that are coming off a good run of form,” Marshall added. “They always play a good brand of rugby and I think they are doing that again this year.

“They’ve got some big, physical forwards, so it is going to be a very tough game. We’re expecting a tough game against them and I think if you want to go far in the Challenge Cup and get to finals, then you’ve got to beat tough teams and I think that’s what Sunday will be.”

Wigan’s quarter-final cup tie at Wakefield takes place at the DIY Kitchens Stadium on Sunday afternoon, 1pm kick-off, live on BBC One.