CONFIDENT coach Paul Anderson believes the Giants can now focus all their attention on looking up rather than down.
Yesterday’s 40-14 victory at bottom club Castleford has enabled Huddersfield to open up a six-point gap on the basement Tigers with four rounds of Super League remaining.
The 10th-placed Giants are now also two points clear of Hull, who they visit this coming Sunday.
But, just as importantly, Anderson’s men are still in with the slimmest of chances of reaching the play-offs. They are now five points off the pace.
And the Giants caretaker coach has made it clear that while his side is still in with a mathematical chance, they will keep on battling.
“One of the first goals Kieron (Purtill) and myself set when we took over temporary charge was that we wouldn’t give up hope of making the play-offs until it was mathematically impossible,” he revealed.
“If we had given up hope from the start, what sort of message would that have sent out to everyone?
“Our philosophy from day one is that until someone says there is no way we can make the play-offs, we will always believe it is still possible.
“And with four rounds of the competition to play, we are looking up.
“We’ve pulled away from the bottom two and now my concern is to catch the teams in front of us.”
The Giants yesterday led 12-2 in the first half but were pegged back by the break and didn’t pull away until the final quarter of the match, scoring three tries in the final six minutes.
“Patience was the key,” said Anderson. “This game is about getting in an arm wrestle and hoping ultimately you come out on top.
“We had a good start to go 12-2 up but 14-14 at half-time was a fair reflection. But we stuck to our plan and got our rewards.”
The Giants decided against giving new signing David Faiumu a debut in Super League.
Instead, he played the full 80 minutes for the reserves in a curtain-raiser to the top-flight clash and looked impressive in a 70-0 thrashing of the Tigers.
