Matt Peet brands Huddersfield Giants win ‘a kick up the bum’ as Wigan Warriors boss praises ‘grit and determination’

Wigan Warriors head coach Matt Peet praised his side’s efforts in the gritty win over Huddersfield Giants, but admits they will need to be better moving forward.

Peet’s side were put under the cosh against the bottom-of-the-table outfit in their round 19 clash at the Accu Stadium, but a flurry of 14 points inside the final 12 minutes saw them leave West Yorkshire 24-10 victors.

As a result, they now climb back up to second in the Super League table, just two points behind table-topping Leeds Rhinos. Brad Arthur’s side can reclaim their four-point buffer should they beat Castleford Tigers on Sunday, however.

‘Those are the wins you have to take’

Even though Wigan managed to take the precious league points back to the Brick Community Stadium, the game was right in the balance for a large period of time.

After taking a 10-4 lead into the half-time break, the visitors were kept scoreless until Adam Keighran’s 68th-minute penalty goal, which was then swiftly followed by a Zach Eckersley double as the winger completed a fine hat-trick to close out the match.

“We had to (dig deep), I thought Huddersfield were excellent,” Peet told Sky Sports. “It was a very tough performance from them; they forced us into doing some things that we didn’t want to do and we came up with some uncharacteristic plays and moments. We looked a bit disjointed at times.

“But those are the wins you have to take, move on from and double down on the grit and determination and the lessons the players will take because we were a little bit below standard.”

‘A kick up the bum’

While he was keen to praise his side’s show of effort to eventually see out the game, Peet later admitted they will need to be better moving into a crucial block of fixtures against St Helens and Leigh Leopards.

“We could have lost that, we 100% could have lost that,” he added. “There were moments where I thought we might have.

“But to have that resolve and know we can go to that place and find a way, it builds confidence.

“We hope we’ll be better (as a result of this game), we’ll know we can’t do that every week. If we do that next week and the week after, we’ll come unstuck.

“A kick up the bum.”

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