Leigh Leopards boss blindsided by ‘soft’ showing in Hull FC defeat amid ‘easy fix’ claim

Adrian Lam admits he never saw his Leigh Leopards side’s subpar performance against Hull FC coming on Thursday night. The Leopards lost 26-12 on home soil to fall to their second defeat in as many weeks in Super League, with four tries being conceded in the first half.

Cade Cust slipped through the line and over with ease after nine minutes and that was followed up with efforts from Herman Ese’ese, Lewis Martin and Sam Eseh before the break. The likes of Aidan Sezer and Will Pryce were pulling the strings for the Black and Whites but ultimately, they found it all too easy with Leigh’s defensive lapses providing opportunities.

The Leopards got over the line twice in the second half, but they couldn’t do enough to completely breakdown their visitors before succumbing to defeat.

Leigh Leopards boss disappointed with Hull FC loss

“I just didn’t see that one coming really, that performance,” Lam said after the contest. “Obviously I’m disappointed in every area – just soft and not what we’ve built the season off so far.

“I don’t think the forward pack was the main issue, there were times in the first half when they were kicking inside the 30 and ended up 10m out so our back five didn’t really do a good job to maximise the opportunity we had there with turnarounds and 40/20s being out of position. It’s small changes and we haven’t really had the reps so that probably plays a part. I’m just frustrated that the tries were so soft, really, really poor. It’s an easy fix, we just need to focus on how we’re going to be a little bit more aggressive.

“I thought the 40 minutes against Wigan last week there was some really good signs and we built this week off the back of that and tried to take confidence and roll it into this one. Clearly the attitude wasn’t there, a little bit ahead of ourselves.”

The game was Leigh’s last on home soil until July 4 as they now approach a run of four straight away games against Huddersfield Giants, Wakefield Trinity, Catalans Dragons and Leeds Rhinos.

“It’s six weeks before we’re back here,” Lam added. “It’s a long time and that’s why that performance tonight, we wanted to play for the fans because we’re not going to be here for the next month and a half. It is on the road but we’ve played some of our best rugby since I’ve been here on the road. It’s a great challenge.”

A needed win for @hullfcofficial and they can go home happy with the 2 points 🙌#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/P0ZbeUackZ

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