Farrell blames 'panic football'

By Phil Harlow
BBC Sport at the Millennium Stadium

CHALLENGE CUP FINAL St Helens 32-16 Wigan

Wigan captain Andy Farrell blamed the Warriors' second-half performance for their 32-16 defeat against St Helens in the Challenge Cup final.

The Warriors were 20-10 down at the interval after a late Paul Wellens try had put St Helens clear.

"After losing the Grand Final last year and now this, we just want to get back to winning ways," said Farrell.

"We stopped playing the way we were told to play in the second half.

"We still believed in ourselves at half time but for some reason we didn't go out there and play as we should have done.

"When you're 10 points down against St Helens you need field position and we let them control that part of the game.

Sean Long was excellent... he kicked us to death Wigan coach Mike Gregory

"We started to play panic football, our shape went - everything went.

"People were trying to win the game on their own and you can't do that against a side that's dominating field position."

Wigan coach Mike Gregory came to the same conclusion as his captain, but was quick to praise St Helens' quality in attack.

"It went away from us in the second half," said Gregory.

"Trying to compete with the best attacking team in the competition just killed us.

"But no arguments, the best team won. We couldn't control their offloads - we've got to learn to be stronger in collision."

And Gregory also paid tribute to the performance of St Helens scrum-half Sean Long who kicked 12 points on his way to winning the Lance Todd trophy.

"Sean was excellent, he really deserved the award," said Gregory.

"He kicked us to death."