SAINTS were left to rue some sloppiness in defence, carelessness with the ball and some untimely penalties in their 24-20 defeat at Wakefield Trinity.

They had given theselves something of a mountain to climb when, after scoring in the opening minutes through Mark Percival, they conceded four consecutive tries to trail 22-6.

But having clawed their way back to within two points of the hosts seven minutes into the second half they failed to finish off the half chances that came their way.

Had they done that - and been a bit more switched on and resolute in defence, the two clear cut chances in the second half that were effectively halted through foul play would have been taken out of the equation.

Saints without James Roby does take some getting used to and there is no doubt they missed the hooker's direction, dynamism and workrate.

But they got off to a good enough start and should have had a try on the board in the first 40 seconds when Danny Richardson finished off fine work from Luke Thompson and Jon Wilkin in the build up, only to be ruled short.

It did not matter as moments later the ball fanned left where Ben Barba sent Percival over, despite a slip on the turf en route to the line.

But if Saints thought they were going to be in for a cakewalk they were in for a rude awakening against a side packed with strike along the back line - and one that has been smarting from some narrow losses in recent weeks.

One thing that really stung Saints was their discipline - and the trait of penalty and then try reared its head on a number of occasions.

Back-to-back penalties gave Trinity the field position to launch an attack and there must have been surprise, given how well saints have defended so far this year, how relatively easy it was parted for Ben Jones-Bishop to cross in the corner.

To compound Saints' woes Liam Finn was spot on with the boot, chipping over the conversion from the touchline.

Ill-discipline and carelessness contributed to the next key stage, with Percival piercing the Trinity line but losing the ball and in the subsequent free play Wakefield hacked ahead only for Zeb Taia to nudge the advancing Jones-Bishop off the ball.

Saints did not switch on and Reece Lyne sliced through to put Wakefield into a lead they would never relinquish.

Wakefield loose forward Justin Horo took advantage of a missed Wilkin tackle to push the hosts ahead.

And more ill-discipline - another high tackle allowed Trinity to knock on the door again, with wing Bill Tupou squeezing some lackadaisical tackling to make it an embarrassing 22-6 lead.

Saints were staring down the barrel of a heavy beating and needed to stop the rot.

And they got themselves a toe-hold in the match when slick handling and a classy finish saw Lomax and Ryan Morgan combine to send Tommy Makinson diving over in the corner on 26 minutes.

It gave Saints a new lease of life against a team that had a record of wilting in recent weeks.

Saints pressed with first Morgan Knowles held up on the line and then Taia halted too by a Lyne tackle.

It was third time lucky as the hooter sounded just as Lomax and Barba were combining to fashion Percival's second of the game to make it 22-14 at the break.

Barba did not walk off with his teammates at the break, instead waiting to walk off and chat with coach Justin Holbrook over some aspect of play.

Within seven minutes of the restart Saints looked as though they were going to grab the game by the lapels and give it a shake.

Richardson’s perfect 40:20 put Saints on the front foot from where they pressed, with prop Luke Douglas crashing over from a short pass.

Richardson's goal cut the deficit to two points and that looked a comfortable target to overhaul.

They had chances and should have taken the lead when Richardson picked up a loose Trinity pass to race up the right hand side and passed to the supporting Morgan on the inside.

Unfortunately Morgan was taken, off the ball, by Jacob Miller and the clear-cut try went begging.

Miller was lucky not to get 10 minutes for that, and Saints failed to get anything from the subsequent penalty and drop out with Thompson held up, but that passage ending with a forward pass.

Wakefield pierved the line again, but Morgan got back to stop the runaway Horo when it looked a likely score.

Saints were now playing the clock and twice Wakefield smartly used their last tackle play to power close to the line, leaving the visitors with the full length of the field to come.

But back Saints came again and it looked to all the world that Morgan was going over on the right, only for Tupou to propel the ball from his grasp and race down field.

They responded with another high tackle, with Finn added the goal to make it 24-20.

With eight left Saints still had chances and Barba's intervention saw another flowing move but Lomax was walloped high by Tyler Randell to snuff out the try opportunity.

Although the Trinity hooker was given a yellow card for that, it was scant consolation for Saints given a try seemed certain.

And to compound Saints' misery they blew the subsequent penalty on the Trinity line when Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook was penalised for walking off the mark - something that had been an unpunished feature of the game until then.

With three minutes remaining Percival kicked and chased to the corner and disagreed with the touch judge over whether he was taken out chasing it and was dispatched to the sin-bin.

Saints rolled the dice once more in the final minute, but an ambitious long pass wide to Makinson went into touch and with it went the last hopes of salvaging anything.

Saints will have plenty of gripes about the way this game was played and over some key calls, but they can only blame themselves for the ill discipline, shoddy first half tackling and drift.

The game should be a wake up call that nothing is going to fall into their laps this season.

Wakefield Trinity: 1. Scott Grix; 5. Ben Jones-Bishop, 4. Reece Lyne,18. Joseph Arundel, 3. Bill Tupou; 6. Jacob Miller, 7. Liam Finn; 17. Craig Huby, 13. Tyler Randell, 20. Keegan Hirst, 11. Maty Ashurst, 12. Daniel Kirmond, 14. Justin Horo.

Subs: 8. Anthony England, 9. Kyle Wood, 16. Tinirau Arona, 22. Jordan Baldwinson.

Saints: 23. Ben Barba; 2. Tommy Makinson, 3. Ryan Morgan, 4. Mark Percival, 19. Regan Grace; 1. Jonny Lomax, 18. Danny Richardson; 10. Kyle Amor, 7. Matty Smith, 16. Luke Thompson, 17. Dom Peyroux, 11. Zeb Taia, 12. Jon Wilkin.

Subs: 6. Theo Fages, 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 14. Luke Douglas, 15. Morgan Knowles.