Thursday 12 September 2019 23:33, UK
Castleford coach Daryl Powell knows his side will need to majorly improve if they manage to secure a Super League play-off spot.
The Tigers face an anxious wait to see if they have made the top five following a 26-8 defeat at Wigan.
They started the night level with Hull ahead of the final fixtures and, as a result of this loss, their season will be over if the Black and Whites beat St Helens on Friday.
"We turned up tonight wanting to keep it in our own hands but we were not good enough," Powell told Sky Sports.
"It is disappointing but we will see what happens - if Hull see off St Helens then fair play to them.
"For us, well we will have to improve a fair bit on that anyway - especially the second half. Our attacking game was poor all night, it was just blunt but Wigan defended well. We are not good enough at the minute when teams are defending well against us."
Castleford had Jesse Sene-Lefao sent off in the second half for going in with the knees on Oliver Partington.
Powell said: "We lost our discipline a bit and I just said to them that we can't be doing that - Jesse would never have meant to do that. I don't think there was any intent from him - he is a pretty religious man and does not go out to do anything like that.
"I don't think there was a lot of contact, I thought his knee hit the floor."
Wigan coach Adrian Lam paid tribute to his side's defence as the Warriors secured second place in the table.
George Williams, Zak Hardaker, Joe Greenwood, Oliver Gildart and Morgan Smithies all crossed for tries as they set up a home play-off tie next Friday against either Salford or Warrington.
"We weren't perfect with the ball tonight but defensively I thought we were unbelievably great," said Lam.
"The defence pleased me the most, that and having two senior players in Ben Flower and Sean O'Loughlin back. I'm really happy they got through the game."
Lam admitted the clash with Castleford was the ideal preparation for the play-offs.
"I said to them at the start of the week that this is the kind of game that we want and need," the Warriors coach said.
"I thought it would be down to two points, we prepped that it would be a two-point game and it actually was at half-time.
"Our try-line defence has been outstanding. We were under the pump for a long time and then we went up the other end and scored. That's brilliant so I was really proud of them."
