Simon Grix hails his Halifax Challenge Cup heroes

The Championship part-timers, who will be back in training Tuesday night after work, lost 26-2 at Bolton.

However, they trailed just 8-2 at the break following a super display full of aggressive and desperate defence and it was not until England star Jonny Lomax scored on the hour that Saints confirmed their place at Wembley against Warrington.

Grix said: “Our effort was brilliant, we just ran out of energy a little bit, which was why the scoreline drifted at the end.

“But what am I on about? That scoreline was miles better than anyone expected.

“If truth be told, I’ve played us down all week, but in the back of my mind there was always a feeling that we’d turn up for a big game, for an occasion.

“We rose to the challenge and had a dig and they’ve earned their praise and a few beers.

“We made some early errors, but we had some steel about us to be able to defend them.

“If we’d managed to get to the finish of those sets, end them better, or even just turn the ball over on their line, then we might have been in a bit better shape.

“At 8-2, we were obviously pleased at half time and we spoke about them being human; they’re a great side, but they’re not super-human.

“It was a positive dressing room, because the players had realised they could compete.”

But Saints – who suffered a shock Cup final loss to Halifax the last time the West Yorkshire club prospered in 1987 – had too much energy and class. St Helens chief Justin Holbrook said: “It’s great that we’ve won the game but it’s good for the competition over here to have a Championship team in the semi-finals and to play as well as they did was great.

“They tried hard for 80 minutes. We knew it was going to be a tough day, they’re tricky games when everybody says you’ve won before you play.

“They were tough conditions with the constant drizzle and we tried to play a bit too much in the first half but we settled down in the second half and defensively we were terrific.”