
Adrian Lam has branded the Challenge Cup draw as “unfair” with it taking place before the completion of the round.
He suggested it was a distraction and part of the reason Leigh were slow to start against York in their quarter-final win.
He said on Viaplay:
“I think there was a lot of anxiety from watching that through the whole players. And then the draw before our kick off I thought was a little bit unfair as well in the sense of why would they do that when we’re talking about who could potentially play us next week and minds are drifting everywhere so that all played a part I reckon so something that we’ll address again next week.”
That said, he did praise his side’s performance despite the slow start which was “uncharacteristic.”
“Just uncharacteristic really of who we’ve been over the last couple of months. But I said to them at half time that it’s a situation that I don’t mind being in to see how we respond to it. So second half obviously, 40 minutes we were a lot better.
“We showed character and courage are key words that come to mind but you know I think you’ve seen it in the past in Challenge Cup matches where you can go and travel anywhere and be red hot favourites and upsets happen so you know we thought we addressed that during the week but you know.
“But at the start that we gave ourselves was really difficult and was just climb our way back out of trouble so just proud of them in the end I guess to get that result and start the competition.”
“We played 80 minutes with 12 men don’t forget or nearly 80 minutes with 12 men but I just it was just important that we stuck together and gave ourselves a chance in the last 20 minutes.”
