Wakefield Trinity head coach Willie Poching praised his players for delivering at the vital moment in the season after securing their Super League status for another year.
Their top-flight place was made mathematically certain by victory over Hull KR on Thursday night, with Lee Kershaw, Lewis Murphy and Max Jowitt scoring the tries in a comeback win.
It was a fourth success in five matches for Trinity, taking them from bottom place and real relegation danger a month ago.
“It does feel good,” said Poching of getting the job done.
“A couple of weeks ago we put the situation in our own hands, the win at Castleford was big for us and we took a lot of confidence from it.
“I really like the way we’ve gone about things the last month. How they’ve played on the field, and the tough way we’ve come to learn to play and grind it out.
“To sit here now, a month on from being restless and not knowing where we’re going to be, being in control and doing it on our terms with two games to go, is really pleasing.”
Apart from another spectacular Murphy finish, the highlight of the victory over Hull KR was departing favourite David Fifita kicking the final conversion – from a tough angle as well.
“(In training) he tries to challenge Mason (Lino) and I was pretty confident he’d hit it,” said Poching. “He deserved to finish that way.”
