ADRIAN LAM cut a disappointed figure as Leigh Leopards went down 26-16 to Wakefield Trinity at the DIY Kitchens Stadium.
That means that the Leopards will have to wait another year for their chance at silverware as Wakefield proved too strong in the play-off eliminator.
After the game, Lam said: “It was frustrating to watch and not the performance we wanted.
“We were flat two weeks in a row (they also lost to Wakefield the previous Friday) and we were outplayed in every area.
“Wakefield were good tonight and I wish them all the best moving forward.
“It was important to come here and start well but we gave Wakefield the confidence to build and then we conceded a soft try from Tyson Smoothy next to the posts.
“There were a couple of soft tries like when Caius Faatili rolled over and they should have led by more at half-time.
“We hadn’t even begun by then so I felt confident at half-time, but we started poorly again and it was really all over in the first ten minutes.”
Lam also took aim at some of the decisions during the game, not least video referee Liam Moore’s decision to overturn on-field official Chris Kendall’s ruling of a Wakefield knock-on in the second half.
He said: “There were a couple of difficult calls that didn’t go our way. Wakefield challenged a call and they looked at it 300 times.
“We didn’t get any 50/50 calls which is fair enough. I still think Wakefield were the better team but it wasn’t helped.”