'We all live and die together': Huddersfield Giants coach Jim Lenihan rallies around Oliver Russell after costly error
Huddersfield Giants boss Jim Lenihan refused to be critical of Oliver Russell following his crucial late error against Wakefield Trinity, stressing that they win and lose together as a team.
The former Wakefield half-back raised Huddersfield's hopes of a shock victory with a long-range drop goal, only to gift his old club the points with a wild pass that was picked off by Josh Rourke in the dying seconds.
"We all live together and we all die together," said Lenihan. "He kicked the field goal to put us in that position.
"It was getting frantic for everyone at that point. He pulled the string he wanted to pull and unfortunately it didn't quite work out for us.
"But he pulled one just before that and got a point for us. We've got to back our ball players."
The match appeared set for golden point before Rourke's last-gasp intervention.
Lenihan took encouragement from Huddersfield's performance despite a fifth straight defeat on his watch.
"We showed a lot of character, which was the most pleasing part," he said. "There were plenty of opportunities for us to put the flag out there and not play.
"That's our best performance together. Even if we'd won, it wouldn't be a massive relief that everything has changed; we're on a journey of building a football club and a football team. All this is part of that."
Wakefield scored two early tries but failed to shake off Super League's bottom side on their way to an unconvincing 29-23 victory.
Daryl Powell admitted that it was an uncomfortable watch.
"It's a win but not an enjoyable one," he said.
"We started great but lost control of the game a little bit and conceded a couple of soft tries.
"We did well to get back into it but were never that great – a bit loose. And then it was a bit mad at the end.
"It's two points but we're going to have to improve."