Wigan made to sweat on pole position after two-try Cudjoe's great late show

Huddersfield 18 Wigan 16

Wigan will have to wait at least another week to claim the League Leaders' Shield – and an assured first place going into the play-offs – after this dramatic late victory by Huddersfield last night.

Leroy Cudjoe's 71st-minute try – his second of a breathtaking second half – snatched the win for the Giants after they had spent much of the match hanging on desperately.

That all changed when Michael Lawrence got free on the right after 56 minutes and rolled a pass infield for Cudjoe to claim his first.

Having turned round 10-0 down, the Giants then took the lead for the first time with a try from the Wigan cast-off Luke Robinson and Brett Hodgson's touchline conversion – only for Sam Tomkins to snatch it back with a dazzling 70-metre solo.

But then, with nine minutes left, Danny Brough's chip kick caught Wigan flat-footed and Cudjoe dived over the try-line exultantly and Hodgson sealed a famous victory.

"I feel really proud of them," said the Giants coach, Nathan Brown. "And the players should feel proud of themselves for coming back from 10 points down."

Wigan had started at high intensity. The bit-part players combined for their first try, with Stefan Marsh, just recalled from loan at Widnes, putting them in an attacking position with a weaving run. Paul Deacon launched the high kick and the towering Karl Pryce, only playing as Darrell Goulding had failed a fitness test, reached above two defenders to catch and score.

Wigan were operating at such a pace that it looked certain to be the first of many, but it was not to be that sort of game. Twice the Giants were penalised for pulling back Sam Tomkins as he chased a return pass after splitting the defence. Lawrence escaped with a telling-off, but Kevin Brown was sent to the sin bin.

Within a couple of minutes we were down to 23 players when Stuart Fielden and Keith Mason were also sent to the sin bin for trading blows furiously at the centre of a fight that involved most of the players on the pitch.

The Giants survived their one-man deficit and then threatened twice via David Hodgson, who was tackled into touch by Pryce and had a kick defused by Thomas Leuluai.

But Wigan were ruthless in their use of the high kick to the wing. Five minutes before half-time, Deacon opted this time for the left flank, where Pat Richards knocked the ball back for Joel Tomkins to score. If Wigan thought 10-0 was enough, though, the fiercely committed Giants soon set them straight.

Wigan S Tomkins; Pryce, Marsh, Carmont, Richards; Deacon, Leuluai; Fielden, Riddell, Coley, Hansen, J Tomkins, O'Loughlin. Substitutes used Paleaaesina, Farrell, Tuson, Davies

Huddersfield B Hodgson; D Hodgson, Cudjoe, Horne, Lawrence; Brown, Robinson; Griffin, Brough, Mason, Gilmour, Fa'alogo, Wild. Substitutes used Lunt, Crabtree, Faiumu, Finnigan.

Referee P Bentham (Warrington).