SAINTS coach Nathan Brown blamed too many below par performances from some of his players for Good Friday's loss to Wigan.

In a forthright post-match press conference Brown did not hide his displeasure at seeing his side turned over in front of a capacity 17,980 Langtree Park crowd.

The defeat ends Saints' perfect start to the season, and one that was coming given displays of recent weeks.

Brown said: "They were far better than us today and Sean O'Loughlin took us to school and was by far and away the best player on the field.

"But for us starting games and dropping the ball from the kick off consistently for four or five weeks and carrying players with below par games and being supported by the more talented players in the team.

"Wigan have got two trophies in the cabinet for a reason and you can't carry players against them. we had too many players out there who were not, in my opinion, at the level you need to be to beat a champion side."

Saints trailed by one score at the break, but were left chasing the game after an unlucky Liam Farrell try at the start of the second half.

Saints' second half completion rate was pretty poor, and sowed the seeds of their downfall.

"I thought our yardage attack was not very smart which puts the kicking game under pressure but we had some nice sequences of play in the first half.

"But in the second half every time we started getting some momentum we turned the ball over and you are not going to beat any side, let alone Wigan, completing like that.

"If someone had said at the start of the year that you are going to win your first eight and knock Huddersfield out of the Challenge Cup but lose on Good Friday I'd have taken that.

But we have not learned our lessons from the games we have won, now we have lost we need to heed some good advice that is staring at us. That is the key for us," Brown said.