Whitehaven boss James Coyle believes that appointing former Wigan Warriors Academy coach Peter Williams as his assistant was the best move he made this season.

Coyle initially signed last November as a player/assistant coach but was then named as head coach following Steve Deakin’s resignation at the start of the season.

He then brought in Williams as his assistant in March and the pair guided Haven to safety as the club finished above Hunslet Hawks and Doncaster who were relegated to League One.

“This year has been good and I’ve learned a lot,” Coyle said. “The best move I made was bringing Will in. We both think about the game in the same way and the lads can see how much we believe in what we are saying, and that’s important.

“At the weekend we talked about building a performance and not focusing on the scoreboard. At no point did we play what was on the scoreboard.

“We played our system and it works, there’s no reason to go away from it.

“Those bodies have gone through the pain barrier and it’s good to see the players pull together.

“It’s good that the lads believe in our system enough to stick to it. You see some teams get lost out on the field through not believing in theirs.

“The players want to buy into what me and Will are trying to do.”

Reflecting on the 2015 season as a whole, Coyle added: “If you had said at the beginning of the season this is where we’d be and these would be players we’d have in the team then we’d have been over the moon.

“It’s been a little disappointing that we’ve let some games slip through our grasp and we could have finished with a play-off spot.

“But we’ve got to be happy with staying in this league. It went down to the wire but we did what we set out to do.

“In November when we came into training, I’d played in this system before under Deaks and it was easy for me to pick up.

“I was getting a little frustrated that others weren’t maybe getting it as quickly.

“I think we only truly started believing in it at Blackpool weekend when we pushed Town.

“From there we’ve got better and, as a whole, it’s been a successful year.”