RYAN CARR felt his Castleford Tigers deserved the win for their efforts at Leigh Leopards.
“We got our effort and energy right, which really pleased me,” said the coach after a 24-18 defeat. “I thought we competed really hard.
“We went six weeks on the bounce being really good like that and then we let ourselves down last week (against Wakefield at Magic Weekend), which can happen in life and in sport.
“The response is really what I wanted to see and we got that. There was parts of that game I was really upset with last week, whereas this week I’m really pleased as their coach. They look like a group of players playing for each other.
“It’s something we can be proud of, but I feel like we tipped a lot into that and probably, to be honest with you, deserved to come away with it, in my opinion.
“I know the opposition will probably say they deserve it, and everyone’s got their own opinion, but I felt like we deserved it today, I really do.”
Carr offered praise to young forward Sam Hall, who was picked for the first time in four weeks, saying: “He played great.
“I had to deliver some bad news to Sam a couple of weeks ago that he wouldn’t be in the team and it wasn’t off the back of a poor performance. He’d done really well.
“He’s just gone and done everything he can to help the team and the club and that’s the sort of guy that you love having around.”
Leigh coach Adrian Lam said the game was “very frustrating to be part of”, explaining: “We didn’t really build any momentum or pressure at all.
“There were 15 penalties against us, which we haven’t had all year, so I don’t know where that’s come from.
“It’s a bit frustrating. The game just seemed like it went on and on and on.
“But at the end of the day, the boys were resilient. We got the win.
“There were a lot of changes during the week and eleven players that we couldn’t select today out of the squad. We had a lot of injuries, like other teams at Magic last weekend.
“That’s the worst it’s been for us and I don’t know why. It certainly ruined the game.
“It’s hard to build momentum when you get down the field and then something happens and you’re back up the other end.
“I think when it’s like that, you’ve just got to find a way to win regardless of how it’s done. I just felt that we weren’t really at the races in the sense of we were just dipping our toe in really and didn’t put the throttle down at all.
“I don’t want to be negative because we’ve been on a really good run, but there was a lot in that game where it was very frustrating to watch and be a part of.”
Lam was delighted with forward Isaac Niu, saying: “He’s just a beast. We love him at this club and he’s our leader.
“We lost a lot of players this week in the middle there, so there was no Robbie Mulhern, there was no Aaron Pene, there was no Joe Ofaengaue, and the list goes on and on. I thought he managed his time really well for the team.”