MATT PEET praised Wigan Warriors for holding their nerve after being made to work hard for a 26-16 victory at Castleford Tigers.
He said: “I’m pleased with the result. (For) the performance, in terms of the main things we set out to achieve we did well on.
“Castleford certainly tested us as we knew they would. We had to come out the other side of a tough test.
“For large parts, I thought defensively we were very good against a team that’s going to get better with the ball.
“I think we will get better too.”
Asked what his half-time message was when leading 10-6, Peet added: “The way we were looking in attack and how we were defending, if we carried on with that intensity, we would be good enough to get the result.
“Even when we were behind in the first half, we were seeing the stats and they were telling us we were heading in the right direction.
“We just had to hold our nerve.”
Peet also explained the decision to bring off Harry Smith on the hour and replace him with Jack Farrimond.
“I knew I had a couple of options and Jack could cover any spine positions,” he said.
“We thought we were in good shape and it was a good chance to protect Harry Smith after his pre-season (recovering from wrist surgery).
“Defensively, Harry was sound. Our last plays were pretty good all day and he’s a large part of that.”
The Wigan boss also confirmed that Jake Wardle’s heavy leg strapping was down to a clash of knees in the first half.