SAINTS boss Keiron Cunningham pointed at the amount of spilled ball as being the key reason why they failed to get into the game against Castleford.

He also said the adjustment caused by last week's Matty Smith injury had had a significant impact.

Saints lost 22-6, with their only try through Adam Swift, coming in fortuitous circumstances.

Cunningham said: "It is tough when you have to adjust after losing a half back - and someone you have consistently trained with for about eight or nine weeks - but we have to readjust, find out what works and that is what this experience is all about.

"As you can see we had a look at a few combinations but even without a recognised half back unforced errors put you in a bad spot. Cas are a good side, look well drilled, and took advantage.

"Their completion rate was at 90 per cent and ours was at 30 at times during the game.

"Stuff like that hurts you. You have to be smarter, learn and we will be a different side in a couple of weeks time.

"The biggest thing is we got time under our belts and had the chance to look at the half combinations we will be using for the next few weeks.

"We will find a half combination for the club that looks most comfortable and get some consistency there.

"We need a back bone of a side that takes us forward. We won't have Matty Smith for a few weeks so we have to move on now.

"One thing for sure we are united and working together."

Out of the positives he singled out win Tommy Makinson for praise, and he looked sharp fielding and returning the Cas kicks - although he had limited good attacking ball.

Cunningham added: "Tommy Makinson was outstanding. He looked like the player he was when he was holding his hand up for England. Mark Percival and Adam Swift did some good stuff too.

"Our resilience was also good considering how much possession they had.

"We let in a couple of soft tries from kicks and one on one misses, but we held up to a lot of what they threw at us and our structures looked firm and solid."