LEIGH LEOPARDS coach Adrian Lam has admitted it could take another few weeks for his Challenge Cup heroes to come down from their Wembley high.
They returned to action on Saturday, seven days after their triumph over Hull KR, against Super League leaders Catalans Dragons.
The Leopards impressively led at half-time, but appeared to tire in the second half as 18 unanswered points saw Catalans record a 30-14 win at Leigh Sports Village.
Lam said after the game: “I don’t want to make any excuses. I thought we were there to play and I thought everyone had a crack. I’m really proud of them for that.
“This may take another week or two to sort out, I’m not sure. But I’m going to protect them and I’m going to be okay with that.
“I know that when we find our way again – and it won’t be long – we’ll be back where we need to be.
“It is difficult to respond after such an emotional high. I’m a bit flat myself today. We’ve lost and it’s a game we could have won.
“It’s just the emotion that is the concern here. But I’ll protect the players and make sure that when they’re right to go again, I’m there with them.
“We tried to balance the week out (after Wembley). If you get to half-time in good shape, which we did, I think you’ve done the week right. It certainly wasn’t the preparation or the mindset or the mentality.
“We did get a little tired towards the back end of the second half, which was always going to happen.”
Despite the defeat, Leigh took the opportunity to parade the Challenge Cup with their home supporters after the Catalans game.
“I don’t want to take anything away from the victory last week and to share that moment, with the cup, with the fans as we walked around the field today was unbelievable,” added Lam.
“And they’ve deserved that, they’ve been very loyal to us over a long period of time, and some for their lifetime.
“To have that trophy here in front of our home fans, in Leigh, was a magic moment. I’m just grateful they get an opportunity to enjoy that for the next twelve months.”
Leigh are fourth in the table heading into a Challenge Cup rematch with Hull KR this Friday, and Lam is keen to see his side finish as high up the table as possible.
“We’ve got five games to go and they’ll go past really quickly,” he said.
“We’ve got Wigan and Saints (still to play) who are around the same position as us, so it’s probably going to go right down to the wire.”
