Sunday 27 July 2014 23:19, UK
Wigan coach Shaun Wane admitted his side "got what they deserved" after suffering a shock 16-8 loss at the hands of already-relegated Bradford.
The Warriors had won 84-6 when the two teams met at the DW Stadium earlier in the season but were second best on Sunday on their travels, despite a brace of tries from Dom Manfredi.
I'm angry and disappointed, but I must commend Bradford. They were the best team and they fully deserved their win.
The surprising defeat leaves the reigning Super League champions four points behind current leaders St Helens with just four games remaining in the regular season.
"I'm angry and disappointed, but I must commend Bradford. They were the best team and they fully deserved their win," Wane said. "We got what we deserved, absolutely, straight between our eyes.
"We have to be mentally tougher and I know we can perform a lot better than that. That's down to me as head coach - it was far from acceptable but we know that. We turned up with the wrong attitude and got what we deserved.
"But we'll bounce back and we'll be ready for Salford. We normally don't give many penalties away but we did today when we defended because we were loose.
"I don't want to take anything away from Bradford. It's sad what has happened to them but they deserved it today."
Opposite number James Lowes - who was able to celebrate his first win as head coach - said it was no less than his squad deserved after a tough week in training.
The Bulls were sent down to the Championship last Sunday with a defeat to Huddersfield, though the club are now already planning for next year in the second tier.
"I'm not delighted for myself - I'm delighted for the boys," Lowes - who took over following the departure of Francis Cummins - said.
"They've worked extremely hard since I've been at the club and I'm overjoyed for them. It's not about me, because some of the stuff we've done in training paid off in a big way today," Lowes said.
"Defensively they worked so hard for each other, and that's a lot to do with what we do in training. You need belief in yourself, and the efforts they've put in through training have been second to none, and that's how you build belief. You get self-confidence and that grows through you.
"There's still a couple of occasions where we were just a bit loose, particularly on Wigan's line. But the other side of that was how hard they hard to work in defence, and they really did. That's down to them, and down to their efforts each and every day in training.
"We spoke about not throwing the towel in - we know where we are now and some of the lads don't really know what's happening with their rugby next year.
"We were tested on plenty of occasions again today but we stood up really well and I could see a performance like that coming today."
